Industry averages for performance ratios

Rozzi Rainbow

Does anyone know how you go about finding out the industry averages for performance ratios such as net profit %, ROCE, liquidity etc. I know they are given to us in exam situations, but this is for 'real life'. I've tried searching on Google but all I get is a website that I'd have to subscribe to, which I'm reluctant to do unless I know it's genuine and will give me what I'm after.

Thanks for any help.

jamesm96

The only way I've ever been able to do benchmarking like this is by using the software that's developed by AVN which links with Iris. It doesn't give you the actual ratios of other businesses, but it shows you how the business that you're trying to benchmark compares and relative terms.

Sorry if that's not much help!

PGM

I did a while back find some good financial information through Yahoo (business or finance?!). I needed the P/E ratios, but they had a lot more also.

Dcollins

Dun & Bradstreet - expensive but genuine so why not phone them and ask for a trial to see if it's suitable?

Rozzi Rainbow

Thanks for all the suggestions. Sorry for the delay in replying - looming Self Assessment deadline + big month end payroll run = no time to post on forums

It's not actually for the business I work for - it's a business I'm researching for my degree. (I was advised to pick a plc rather than my own employer because there would be a lot more information available.) So although we use Iris at work, I don't want to start posting up the accounts I've downloaded, nor do I want to use anyone expensive, but thanks anyway.

PGM - your suggestion seems to be most appropriate for my situation - can you give me a bit more of an idea where to go once on Yahoo Finance? I've had a look but all I can seem to find is share prices - which I have anyway from the plc's website - and financial news articles.

Thanks a lot.

Bookworm55

Rozzi Rainbow wrote: »

It's not actually for the business I work for - it's a business I'm researching for my degree. (I was advised to pick a plc rather than my own employer because there would be a lot more information available.) So although we use Iris at work, I don't want to start posting up the accounts I've downloaded, nor do I want to use anyone expensive, but thanks anyway.

Industry average may be harder to find, but can you compare it directly to two or three of its competitors? If you have the annual reports for, say, Morrissons, Asda and Tesco you could work out performance ratios directly from the published reports and compare them to those you've calculated from Sainsburys?

PGM

Rozzi Rainbow wrote: »

PGM - your suggestion seems to be most appropriate for my situation - can you give me a bit more of an idea where to go once on Yahoo Finance? I've had a look but all I can seem to find is share prices - which I have anyway from the plc's website - and financial news articles..

Its not often I hear (or read) those words!

This is the link to the section I found useful;

http://biz.yahoo.com/p/sum_conameu.html

SandyHood

If it is for your degree I would imagine your university has databases that it has paid for such as FAME.
I recommend that you go back to the tutor or course leader and explain that this is the information you want.
If they are not available, then go to the university librarian.

Rozzi Rainbow

Thanks for all the further suggestions.

Bookworm, I had thought it might come to that. But it took me long enough to calculate the first lot of ratios, if I have to do that three or four times over, I'll be here till Christmas! And I want to get on with the actual writing of the report rather than being bogged down with research. But it's something to bear in mind if I find more research is needed, so thanks.

Sandy, this is where the plot thickens. It's the ACCA Bsc degree I'm doing in conjunction with Oxford Brookes university, so I've never been anywhere near the uni, don't have a tutor there or know who the librarian is! But I would imagine I'm still entitled to use their facilites to compete the degree, so I might drop them an email to see what they can offer. My project mentor is my tutor from college, where I took some of the ACCA modules. I don't think they'd have such databases with them not being a uni, but it's worth looking into. The courses were run in conjunction with our local uni, as they are classed as higher education, so I might even be able to use the facilites at the local uni, it's something else to look into, thank you.

PGM, that link is great, thanks a lot I think it should cover me for now, but at least I'm now aware of other options should anything more detailed be required.

Thanks everyone