| | W.R. Grace & Company AND THE TWO: Global Gap Analysis And Labor Productivity Benchmarks Published SAN DIEGO, CA -- – ICON Group International Ltd. today released two of the most comprehensive studies to date on vertical gap analysis and labor productivity benchmarks for W.R. Grace & Company (NYSE: GRA). The methodologist for this unique study is Philip Parker, Eli Lilly Chair Professor of Innovation, Business and Society at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France and Singapore). According to Professor Parker “We created these reports in response to two inescapable trends: a return to fundamentals and globalization.” The goal of these reports is to assist consultants, financial managers, strategic planners, and corporate officers in gauging indicators of W.R. Grace & Company’s financial and human resource structure. The Report has benchmarked W.R. Grace & Company against competing firms in the Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturing industry worldwide—going beyond traditional methods of company benchmarking. The results are two specialized reports: (1) global financial benchmarks using common-size statement ratios (vertical analysis), and (2) labor-productivity and utilization measures collected across borders. Parker notes, “With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of barriers to entry, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company’s financial indicators on a worldwide basis.” Professor Parker states, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures between W.R. Grace & Company and other Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturingcompanies. The Earnings Before Interest And Taxes (EBIT), for example, varied from -4.34 to 31.18. We see this type of variation in the hundreds of ratios that we estimate.” What? : The Coverage of the Reports Two reports, financial ratios and labor productivity ratios, are available for W.R. Grace & Company. Each report reveals productivity and industry ranks for companies in the Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturingindustry. Reports for 30 of W.R. Grace & Company’s competitors in Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturingare also available including: Agrium Incorporated Akzo Nobel N.V. Albemarle Corporation Arab Potash Company Arch Chemicals Incorporated CEA-Industrie SA ChemFirst Inc. Cytec Industries Inc. Delta Electrical Industries Ltd Eramet GenTek Incorporated Great Lakes Chemical Corporation ITOCHU Corporation Minerals Technologies Inc. Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Inc. Nippon Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry Co. Nissan Chemical Industries Ltd Octel Corporation Rasa Industries, Ltd. Snia Solutia Inc. Tetra Technologies, Inc. Tokuyama Corporation The reports answer such questions as: How has W.R. Grace & Company’s asset structure varied compared to global benchmarks for the Industrial Inorganic Chemical manufacturingindustry? Does it generally hold more cash and other short-term assets, or does it tend to concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? On the liability side, does W.R. Grace & Company typically have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks, or does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does W.R. Grace & Company have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, or income taxes compared to global benchmarks? Have W.R. Grace & Company’s returns on equity been higher or its profit margins greater? What has been the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are typical capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee compared to global benchmarks? How? : The Methodology Most vertical analyses merely focus on benchmarking against domestic ratios, often published by government agencies or commercial sources. In contrast, the report calculates thousands of industry norms by looking at firms at the global level, pooling statistics on tens of thousands of companies across over 40 countries, and applying a seven-stage methodology: (1) identification of industry classifications, (2) firm-level data collection and aggregation, (3) standardization of raw statistics, (4) filtering outliers, (5) calculation of global norms, (6) projection of deviations and gaps, and (7) projection of ranks and percentiles. For each part of the financial statement, the larger structural differences and gaps between W.R. Grace & Company and the global benchmarks are provided with summary tables of ranks and percentiles. Previously available only through booksellers such as Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Hoovers, two studies are now available direct from the publisher at a 50% discount off the cover price. This special offer includes International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis and Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis at US$ $420 ($210 each). Fax, 858-635-9414 or write , for more information. FINANCIAL BENCHMARKS Audience: designed for financial managers, directors, CFOs, strategic planners Price: $210 Pages: 80 pp Published: Table of Contents About the Author(s) Methodology/Excerpt (free to view) Order Via Fax Order Online LABOR BENCHMARKS Audience: designed for productivity managers, HR directors, strategic planners Price: $210 Pages: 69 pp Published: Table of Contents About the Author(s) Methodology/Excerpt (free to view) Order Via Fax Order Online About ICON Group Ltd. ICON Group Ltd. assists managers with global benchmarking, gap analysis, and productivity studies. Clients can create their own benchmarks by choosing their competitors from among over 20,000 companies. CONTACT: Orders & Customer Service ICON Group International, Inc. 7404 Trade St. San Diego, CA 92121 USA Fax: 858-635-9414 E-mail: Link: http://www.icongrouponline.com/PR/W_R__Grace_&_Company_US/PR.html - Additional links you may find of interest:
Important Disclaimer: This report was not prepared on behalf of or for W.R. Grace & Company. Please refer to alternative information sources on W.R. Grace & Company for the following: company financials (quarterly reports, annual report, forecasting, analyst reports, stock filing history, investor reports and relations, SEC or EDGAR documents, 10K, 10Q, articles, news press releases, projections, predictions, forecasts), products or services (warranty, guarantee, credit, equipment, accessory or accessories, service, repair or repairs, rebates or rebate policy, product discount or discounts, part or parts supply, price or prices, book value or valuation, logo design), personnel information (jobs, careers, career training, job placement, employment, human resources department, employee compensation or salaries, salary policy, benefit policies for employees, university benefits, credit union benefits), finding corporation location or contact information (map, company mail, mailing street address, corporate investor contacts, website web site, email search, e-mail addresses, regional offices, dealers list, distributors listing, stores directory, outlets, contact names, CFO, CEO, COO, CIO, CTO, HR, office manager, people, welcome, conference, etc.), geographic or production locations (e.g. USA, UK, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, China), legal structure or business activity (corporation, incorporated, company, partner, partnership, partnerships, alliances, limited liability, corp., inc, ltd, co, lawsuit or lawsuits), management plans (marketing strategy or strategic intelligence). ICON reports do not comment on any of the above. |  |