Case study on Royal Dutch Shell plc- commonly known as Shell within the Oil & Gas Industry.

An 'Annual Report' of the company for 2 years. The time period for this case shall be for 2 years: for example: 2018-19 and 2019-20. If you are unable to find the Annual Report of any particular year, you can select / forward / rewind another year. Both the years must be consecutive years. Example: It can be 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Additional materials that are expected to research and collect are: Annual Reports of the company, Newspapers, Magazines, Websites articles, industry reports, etc

After logging into MyUniHub, check: http://libguides.mdx.ac.uk/az.php?t=12365

Kindly use actively the electronic resources, softwares, databases including:

1. Business Source Complete> EBSCOhost

2. Capital IQ

3. SNL

4. Mintel

5. ProQuest

6. Bloomberg

7. Refworks

8. Cite Them Right

9. Datastream

10. Passport

11. Emerald

Needed are:

(1) Introduction and background of the Oil & Gas industry and Royal Dutch Shell plc.

(2) Analysis of qualitative information from the Annual Report of 2 years of the company - including chairperson's statement, director's report, auditor's report, look and feel of the annual reports, photos, graphs and tone of language

(3) Computation of ratios in various groups including profitability, efficiency (activity), liquidity, solvency (gearing), and investment (valuation). Calculation should be done for both the years, for any 2 formula in each ratio group . (Please use formulas at least 10)

List of Formulas: Ratio Analysis:

A.Profitability Group Ratios:

1. Return on Ordinary Shareholders' Funds (ROSF) =

= Net Profit before Tax and Preference Share Dividend

divided

Ordinary Share Capital + Reserves 100

2. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) =

Net Profit before Interest and Tax

= diveded

Share Capital + Reserves + Non Current Liabilities 100

3. Operating Profit Margin = Operating Profit

divided

Sales Revenue 100

4. Gross Profit Margin = Gross Profit

divided

Sales Revenue 100

(B) Efficiency (Activity) Group Ratios:

1. Average Inventories (Stock) Turnover Period in days =

= Average Inventories (Stock) held

divided

Cost of goods sold 365

Here,

Average Inventories (Stock) held =

= Opening Inventories (Stock) + Closing Inventories (Stock)

divide

2

2. Average settlement period for Trade Receivables in days =

= Average Trade Receivables

divided

Credit Sales Revenues Formula 365

3.` Average settlement period for Trade Payables in days =

= Average Trade Payables

divided

Credit Purchases Formula 365

4. Sales Revenue to Capital Employed =

= Sales Revenue

divided

Share Capital + Reserves + Non Current Liabilities

5. Sales Revenue per Employee = Sales Revenue

divided

Number of Employees

(C) Liquidity Group Ratios;

1. Current Ratio = Current Assets

divided

Current Liabilities

2. Acid Test Ratio = Current Assets [excluding Inventories (Stock)]

divided

Current Liabilities

3. Cash generated from operations to maturing obligations =

= Cash generated from Operating Activities

divided

Current Liabilities

(D) Solvency (Gearing) Group Ratios:

1. Gearing Ratio =

= Long Term (Non Current) Liabilities

divided

Share Capital + Reserves + Long Term (Non Current) Liabilities

2. Interest Coverage Ratio =

Profit before Interest and Tax

divided

Interest Payable

(E) Investment Group Ratios:

1. Dividend Payout Ratio=

Dividends announced for the year

= divided

Earnings for the year available for Dividends 100

2. Dividend Cover Ratio (times) =

Earnings for the year available for Dividends

= divided

Dividends announced for the year

3. Dividend Yield Ratio (times) =

Dividends per share

divided

Market Value per Share 100

4. Earnings Per Share =

Earnings available to ordinary shareholders

divided

Number of Ordinary Shares on Issue

5. Cash generated from operations per share =

Cash generated from operations (less Preference Share Dividend)

= divided

Number of Ordinary Shares on Issue

6. Price/Earnings Ratio = Market Value per Share

divided

Earnings per Share

(4) Comparative analysis of the financial performance of the company vis--vis the industry over 2-year period (using the above calculations and other literature).

(5) Critically evaluate the efficient market hypothesis and provide examples of its application in the chosen industry and company. Show evidence for the arguments for special events like a declaration of good/bad news, launching or discontinuing a new product, change of CEO, expansion, any other "news" and its impact on information and impact on share prices. Provide clear pieces of evidence with dates and original news sources.

(6) Critically evaluate with examples what types of costs and budgets this industry is implementing

(7) Overall, your conclusions and recommendations for the company and industry.

(8) Please provide accurate referencing of materials and effective usage of databases/software.

Regards.