Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the TATA Group

Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the TATA Group IMPACT OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS ON THE FINANCIALS AND PERFORMANCE OF TATA GROUP In the current globalised economy, mergers and acquisitions are being progressively more used the world over, for increasing competitiveness of companies through gaining better market share, expansion of the portfolio to reduce business risk, to capitalize on the economies of scale and for entering new geographies, etc. This research study was intended to analyze the consequence of going global market through merger and acquisition and traders long and short term earnings .Thereby study the impact of mergers on the financials by examining some pre- merger and post-merger financial ratios, with the sample of firms chosen as three major mergers/acquisitions of TATA Group. The results put forward that there are small variations in terms of post merger financial performance of the joint firm is not considerably different from the aggregate performance of the acquirer and target companies before the merger. INRODUCTION Merger and acquisitions have emerged as chief forces in the contemporary financial and economic environment. They have been a source of corporate growth and in India, it has changed radically after the liberalization of Indian economy. Mergers and acquisitions came up as one of the most efficient methods of such corporate restructuring, and became an essential part of the long-term trade strategy of corporates in India. The sole three chief objectives at the back any MA transaction were found to be: Improving Profitability Rapid growth in scale and closer time to market Acquirement of new technology Many in corporate India would be jealous of the Tata Groups strategy around mergers and acquisition. In the past 8 years, the Tata Group had made 35 overseas acquisitions, including coal and iron ore mines, adding up Rs 78,000 crore, mostly in the past 3 years. Research problem To examine the consequence of going global through mergers and acquisitions and the traders long term and short term earnings respectively. This would aid in studying the impact on companies financials past the merger or acquisition. To also determine the enterprise value of the corporation by comparing it with the peer group and studying the value of the firm Objective of the study To analyze the a thorough detailed case study of 3 companies of Tata Group who merged or acquired in the past years. To evaluate the closing price of 3 companies previous to and post acquisition To weigh up the key financial ratios of 3 companies pre and post acquisition To do valuation of two companies through enterprise value and contrast the value with peer group and examine in detail Review of literature The subsequent studies are the few existing work reviewed which were conducted by researchers in the sight of analyzing the financial performance during and post merger activity across different time periods. Effect of mergers on corporate performance in India, writer Mrs. Vardhana Pawaskar (2001), considered the impact of mergers on corporate performance. A case study, assessed the financial performance of a cloth unit by using ratio analysis. It compared the before and after merger performance of the corporations between 1992 and 2000 to identify their financial character. The study found that the financial fitness was never in the strong zone during the whole study period and ratio analysis highlighted that decision-making incompetence accounted for a good number of the problems. Forecasting the viability and operational efficiency by Mr Mulla through use of ratio analysis, suggested matching up efficiency and success of all facets of management and put the company on a lucrative footing. The study of a sample of firms, restructured through mergers, showed that the merging firms were at the inferior end in terms of liquidity of the industry. The merged firms gave better performance than industry in terms of profitability. Mergers and operating performance by Mr. Mantravadi: An Indian perspective, attempted to examine the impact of mergers on the performance post industrial reforms, by investigating some pre- and post-merger financial ratios, with chosen sample firms, and all mergers linking public and private limited companies The study results suggested that there are minor variations in terms of impact on financial performance of subsequent mergers across different intervals of time in India. It also indicated that for mergers between the same groups of companies in India, there has been deterioration in performance and ROI. Mergers acquisitions in the banking sector presents the Indian scenario, author Mr. Selvam (2007) has analyzed the impacts of stock price changes to mergers and acquisitions behavior taken place in banking industry with particular reference to private and public sector banks. Found that share prices are market sensitive. From the financial analysis it was noted that greater part of the banks went for branch extension and this has affected profitability to some extent and it resulted in harmful competition among the players. To add up the review of literature, many offerings have offered diverse perspectives of merger in different industries globally and explained the valuation techniques followed by merging companies, and shareholders possessions effect due to merger. From the review of several papers evaluating the pre and post merger performance of merged companies, it is incidental that majority of the studies powerfully support the concept of improved post merger performance due to merger and it is valuable to the acquirer companies. METHODOLOGY Methodology of the study Sample selection There are several mergers within the TATA Group during the study period from 01.04.2006 to 31.03.2009. For the purpose of corporate analysis, it was decided to select three of the highest deals which merged/ acquired under the TATA Group during the study period. Hence, the sample size of this study is confined to 3. Besides, while selecting the sample, following points were taken into account. Acquirer and target companies ought to belong to the same industry. Availability of information on the merger and industry. Period of the study The present study covers a period of one year from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2009. But in order to evaluate the financial performance of sample companies on a comparative basis, 15-20 days before merger and after merger were considered. Sources of data The present study fundamentally depends on secondary data. The required data on financial performance prior and post merger were composed and they were obtained from Prowess software, Internet sources, Business Journals (ICFAI JOURNAL ON M A) The data were also collected from books, and newspapers. Tools used In order to study the financial performance of acquirer and target companies, ratios Debt-Equity Ratio, ROCE (%),net profit margin, P/E, EPS, OPM(%) and valuation. (1) Analysis of financial performance The pre-merger average performance of the companies were compared with the post- merger performance of the joint firm. The present study attempts to calculate and study the pre and post merger performance of acquirer and target companies by using financial ratios in order to determine whether mergers resulted in shareholders wealth or not. Accordingly, the following null hypothesis has been tested: H0: The post merger financial performance of the combined firm is not significantly different from the aggregate performance of the acquirer and target companies prior to the merger. (2) Ratios Debt-Equity Ratio: A gauge of a companys financial leverage obtained by dividing  the total liabilities  by  stockholders equity. It shows what proportion of equity and debt the company is presently using to finance their assets. Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) : ROCE compares earnings with the invested capital in the company. It is like Return on Assets (ROA), but also considers sources of financing Net profit margin: The profit margin says how much profit a company makes for every 1 Rupee it generates in revenue or sales. Profit margins vary with industry to industry, but all else being equal, the greater a companys profit margin compared to its competitors, the better. P/E: It is a gauge of the price paid for a share relative to the annual net income or the net profit earned by the firm per share. EPS: The portion of a companys profit which is allocated to each outstanding share of common stock.  Earnings per share  acts as an indicator of  a companys profitability. OPM: Operating margin is a measurement of the proportion of a companys revenue that is left over after variable costs of production such as wages, and raw materials have been paid. A healthy operating margin is required for a company to be able to pay for its fixed costs, such as interest on debt. Also known as operating profit margin and net profit margin. (3) Enterprise Value Enterprise value is a figure that, in theory, represents the entire cost of a company if someone were to acquire it. Enterprise value is a more accurate estimate of takeover cost than market capitalization because it takes includes a number of important factors such as preferred stock, debt, and cash reserves that are excluded from the latter metric. ANALYSIS OF DATA TATA GROUP OF COMPANIES One of the Indias largest business groups in the country. It has about 96 operating companies. Diverse business in 7 sectors. Revenues equivalent to 5.3% of Indias GDP. Group revenue FY 2008: Rs 251,543 Cr. / $ 62.5 b. Group profit FY 2008: Rs 21,578 Cr. / $ 5.4 b .Its 27 publicly listed companies have a combined market capitalization which is the 2nd highest among all business houses in India. Largest employer in private sector over 300,000 employees. A shareholder base of over 2.9 million. Operations in over 80 countries. Products and services exported to 85 countries Tata is a rapidly growing business group based in India with significant international operations. Revenues in 2007-08 are estimated at $62.5 billion (around Rs251, 543 crore), of which 61 per cent is from business outside India. The group employs around 350,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics. The business operations of the Tata group currently encompass seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The groups major companies are beginning to be counted globally. Considering two of the largest mergers of TATA Group -Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the world after it acquired Corus. -Tata Communications is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers. TATA STEEL-CORUS About the acquisition Date: 30th March 2007 Acquirer: Tata Steel Limited Target company: Corus Plc. Stake: 100 % Deal amount: US$ 12201 m Sector: Steel sector MERGER On January 31, 2007, India based Tata Steel Limited (Tata Steel) acquired the Anglo Dutch steel company, Corus Group Plc (Corus) for US$ 12.20 billion. The merged entity, Tata-Corus, employed 84,000 people across 45 countries in the world. It had the capacity to produce 27 million tons of steel per annum, making it the fifth largest steel producer in the world as of early 2007. Before the acquisition, the major market for Tata Steel was India. The Indian market accounted for sixty nine percent of the companys total sales. Almost half of Corus production of steel was sold in Europe (excluding UK). The UK consumed twenty nine percent of its production. After the acquisition, the European market (including UK) would consume 59 percent of the merged entitys total production. DEAL : An auction was initiated on January 31, 2007, and after nine rounds of bidding, TATA Steel could finally clinch the deal with its final bid 608 pence per share, almost 34% higher than the first bid of 455 pence per share of Corus. Synergies There were many likely synergies between Tata Steel, the lowest-cost producer of steel in the world, and Corus, a large player with a significant presence in value-added steel segment and a strong distribution network in Europe. Among the benefits to Tata Steel was the fact that it would be able to supply semi-finished steel to Corus for finishing at its plants, which were located closer to the high-value markets The Pitfalls Though the potential benefits of the Corus deal were widely appreciated, some analysts had doubts about the outcome and effects on Tata Steels performance. They pointed out that Corus EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) at 8 percent was much lower than that of Tata Steel which was at 30 percent in the financial year 2006-07 COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION FINDINGS As we can see from the line chart that the %cumulative abnormal return before acquisition was sharply decreasing since past month with not even a single glimpse of positive return on any single day. But as soon as the acquisition took place, the earnings showed a marginal rise and again got back to the level where it was just before the acquisition. This happened due to very large debt generated due to overpaying by acquiring the Corus at a very high price of 608 pence per share as compared to previously valued 455 pence per share. INTERPRETATION Debt equity ratio on post acquisition increase because Corus debt was high it was GBP1.6b to buy Corus and so its debt is almost 116% more than in pre acquisition. ROCE shows that post acquisition is very less as compared to pre acquisition it has negative percentage because company has short term returns after one year it will improve in the long run. Net profit margin has very less change as profit is not much affected. P/E increases in post acquisition by 30.2% which show high future cash flow. ROE is decreasing by 37.7 which show that it has more debt than equity. EPS has a very minor change. Operating profit margin is reduced by 9.1% which shows that it has low profit. TATA COMMUNICATION-NTT DOCOMO About the acquisition Date: 13th November 2008 Acquirer: Ntt-Docomo Target company: Tata Teleservices Ltd. Stake: 26 % Deal amount: US$ 2700 m Sector: Tele-communication MERGER Tata Teleservices has sold a stake of 26% to Japans NTT DoCoMo. The deal value is $2.7 bn. Tata Tele has 30 million CDMA subscribers and is rolling out its GSM services. Some say the deal is over-valued and some say its not easy to put value on the fastest growing mobile market in the world. India is the fastest growing market second only to China. It adds 10mn subscribers every month. The current subscriber base stands at 300+million and is expected to be 700 million in 2012. That is almost double to todays numbers. The Road ahead Great deal it may be, but it has its risks. One reason is that telecom deals have been controversial in recent times. This goes back to late last year when the government sold pan-India licenses for $333 million apiece, amid a welter of controversy. DoCoMo, in accordance with regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, expects to make an open offer to acquire up to 20 per cent of outstanding equity shares of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML), a Tata telecommunication company, through a joint tender offer along with Tata Sons. TTSL and TTML through the Tata Indicom brand, have increased their combined share of the fast-growing Indian mobile market and their combined subscriber base now stands at over 30 million. TTSL expects to leverage DoCoMos expertise in the development and delivery of value-added services, where DoCoMo is a firmly established market leader. FINDINGS Debt equity ratio on post acquisition debt is increasing which shows company debt is increasing after merger. ROCE is constant it has not change much.Net profit margin increases by 11.10 as it income increases in post acquisition as compared to pre acquisition. P/E highly increases in post acquisition from 0 to 12%. ROE is decreasing by 1.53% which shows that it slightly more debt than equity. EPS is increasing drastically by 24.27% which is very profitable for investors. Operating profit margin is increased by 15.43% which shows that company profit margin is very fairly profitable. COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION INTERPRETATION The return of the target company Tata Communication has been very poor since the past 15 to 20 days before the acquisition but it almost got to break-even soon after the acquisition date. This sustained for the next 8 to 10 days but again got back into negative returns zone due to poor customer support to the newly entered Docomo brand in highly competitive communications market in India. TATA MOTOR JLR About the acquisition Date: 27th March 2008 Acquirer: Tata Motors Ltd Target company: Jaguar Land Rover Stake: 100 % Deal amount: US$ 2300m Sector: Automotive Detailed Case Study In June 2008, India-based Tata Motors Ltd. announced that it had completed the acquisition of the two iconic British brands Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) from the US-based Ford Motors for US$ 2.3 billion. Tata Motors stood to gain on several fronts from the deal. One, the acquisition would help the company acquire a global footprint and enter the high-end premier segment of the global automobile market. After the acquisition, Tata Motors would own the worlds cheapest car the US$ 2,500 Nano, and luxury marquees like the Jaguar and Land Rover. Though there was initial skepticism over an Indian company owning the luxury brands, ownership was not considered a major issue at all. According to industry analysts, some of the issues that could trouble Tata Motors were economic slowdown in European and American markets, funding risks, currency risks etc. The Challenges Morgan Stanley reported that JLRs acquisition appeared negative for Tata Motors, as it had increased the earnings volatility, given the difficult economic conditions in the key markets of JLR including the US and Europe. Moreover, Tata Motors had to incur a huge capital expenditure as it planned to invest another US$ 1 billion in JLR. This was in addition to the US$ 2.3 billion it had spent on the acquisition. Tata Motors had also incurred huge capital expenditure on the development and launch of the small car Nano and on a joint venture with Fiat to manufacture some of the companys vehicles in India and Thailand. This, coupled with the downturn in the global automobile industry, was expected to impact the profitability of the company in the near future CURRENT SCENARIO In less than three years after its acquisition, Jaguar Land Rover has metamorphosed from a millstone around Tata Motors neck into its crowning jewel. In the June 2010 quarter, JLR division accounted for nearly 70% of the companys net profit and over 60% of its revenues on the consolidated basis. This was more than what the market has expected and the stock is up by nearly 150% in the past two trading sessions. JLR benefited from an improvement in its pricing power and a favourable exchange rate in the US dollar and the euro. The two worked in tandem and resulted in a sharp 60% jump in JLR revenue per unit to around  £38,000 in June 2010 quarter compared to the  £23,800 a year ago. With the raw material costs remaining benign, it led to a sharp improvement in the divisions operating margin and its reported net profit of  £221 million (`1,613.3 crore) in the first quarter as against a net loss of  £64 million (`467 crore) a year ago. FINDINGS Debt equity ratio is increasing by 42.27% as Tata took loan of banks to acquire JLR.ROCE increases vey high by 343.60% as compared to pre acquisition as it gauges that company that generate its earnings from the total pool of capital which indicates profitability.Net profit margin increases as it income increases in post acquisition as compared to pre acquisition. P/E highly decreases in post acquisition by 60.1% which in investor point of view they will be profitable to invest to get high earning. ROE is highly increasing by 480.15% which shows that it has more equity than debt. EPS is increasing drastically by 480.15% which is very profitable for investors. Operating profit margin is reduced by 41.44% which shows that company profit margin is very less. COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION INTERPRETATION As we can see from the line chart that the cumulative return before merger was negative and the entire trend is moving in the negative direction due to poor returns of tata motors. A soon as the acquisition took place, the highly profit generating Jaguar as well as Land Rover added to the profit and earnings of the tata motors. The brand value of JLR added to the highly reputable Tata Group and the companys balance sheet. This can be clearly seen in the line chart above. VALUATION AND INTERPRETATION EV Multiples of Tata Corus Tata Steel and Corus Group deal happened at high multiples compared to its peers. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands half compared to the deal multiples. Sales Multiple: The average sales multiple of its peers is 1.17x compared to the deal of 0.68x of Corus Groups sales. This can be possible due to high sales value, reducing the multiple to 0.68x. The lowest multiple (Steel Authority of India) is at 0.73x. EBITDA Multiple: EBITDA multiple of its peers averages at 4.38x compared to the deal multiple of 7.02x of Corus Groups sales. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 4.38x. This is almost half of the deal multiple. It can be observed that Tata played very aggressively. EBIT Multiple: EBIT multiple of its peers averaged at 5.54x compared to the deal of 10.19x of Corus Groups sales. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 8.39x. PE Multiple: The PE multiple of the deal is very high on the account that the margins of Corus are very low compared to Tata Steel and other peers. The average PE multiples is 7.95x compared to 68.23x at which the deal haapened. EV Multiples of Tata NTT Docomo The deal of Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo happened at very high multiples. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands very low compared to the deal multiples. Sales Multiple: The average sales multiple of its peers is 5.37x compared to the deal of 26.98x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 9.24x. Thus we can conclude that Tata Teleservices got very good price for its stake dilution for NTT Docmo. EBITDA Multiple: Again the average EBITDA multiple of its peers is very less, 16.35x compared to the deal of 99.81x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 26.74x. This is a huge difference. NTT Docomo paid 6 times more what it should have paid to Tata. EBIT Multiple: EBIT multiple of its peers is 25.5x compared to the deal of 952.96x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 41.02x. PE Multiple: The PE multiple for Tata Teleservices is negative as its net income is negative Note: The multiples are high on account that Sales and the profitability of Tata Teleservices is low, inturn giving very high multiples. Its sales stands at Rs. 1,815.5 Cr. compared to the average sales of Rs. 11,490.6 Cr. of its peers. FINDINGS FROM VALUATION OF ENTERPRISE VALUE MULTIPLE Tata Corus Tata Steel and Corus Group deal happened at high multiples compared to its peers. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands half compared to the deal multiples. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 4.38x. This is almost half of the deal multiple It can be observed that Tata played very aggressively as it paid high enterprise value as compared to our analysis. A reason for Corus to be sold is chance to Bail out of Debt and Financial stress. TATA Steel Paid 7.02 Times EBITDA of Corus Enterprise Value. The PE multiple of the deal is very high on the account that the margins of Corus are very low compared to Tata Steel and other peers the only company who has high P/E is Jindal steel. Tata NTT Docomo The deal of Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo happened at very high multiples. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands very low compared to the deal multiples. The average sales multiple of its peers is 5.37x compared to the deal of 26.98x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 9.24x. Thus we can conclude that Tata Teleservices got very good price for its stake dilution for NTT Docomo. The PE multiple for Tata Teleservices is negative as its net income is negative. EBITDA multiple of its peers is very less, 16.35x compared to the deal of 99.81x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 26.74x. This is a huge difference. NTT Docomo paid 6 times more what it should have paid to Tata. The multiples are high on account that Sales and the profitability of Tata Teleservices is low, in turn giving very high multiples. Its sales stands at Rs. 1,815.5 Cr. compared to the average sales of Rs. 11,490.6 Cr. of its peers. SUMMARY Except Tata Steel- Corus deal, all the other 2 acquisitions was well accepted by not only well accepted by the owners of the company (the shareholders) but even made the entire Tata group come into the eyes of fortune 500 list. In-fact it ranked at 56th position at a global level in 2009 CONCLUSION This study was undertaken to test what is the impact of mergers on the financials of acquiring corporate by examining some pre- merger and post-merger financial, in terms of impact on operating performance. The results from the analysis of pre- and post-merger operating performance ratios for the acquiring firms in the sample showed that there was a differential impact of mergers, for different industry sectors in India. Type of industry does seem to make a difference to the post-merger operating performance of acquiring firms. Expansion through mergers and acquisition is one of the best ways for any domestic company to step outside the shores of India in an international market place and acquit itself as a global player Company can turn into conglomerate in reasonably less time by capitalizing on its strengths of efficiency and effectiveness by acquiring relatively poor performing companies as TATA did in almost all its group of companies Recent examples of companies which adopted similar pattern of expansion are Renuka Sugars, Arcelor Mittal, Reliance, Essar Group, Aditya Birla Group, etc. One can study any of the above mentioned company and conclude that the key underlying decision of these companies expanding quickly and efficiently is their timely decision of merging and acquiring appropriate companies Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the TATA Group Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on the TATA Group IMPACT OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS ON THE FINANCIALS AND PERFORMANCE OF TATA GROUP In the current globalised economy, mergers and acquisitions are being progressively more used the world over, for increasing competitiveness of companies through gaining better market share, expansion of the portfolio to reduce business risk, to capitalize on the economies of scale and for entering new geographies, etc. This research study was intended to analyze the consequence of going global market through merger and acquisition and traders long and short term earnings .Thereby study the impact of mergers on the financials by examining some pre- merger and post-merger financial ratios, with the sample of firms chosen as three major mergers/acquisitions of TATA Group. The results put forward that there are small variations in terms of post merger financial performance of the joint firm is not considerably different from the aggregate performance of the acquirer and target companies before the merger. INRODUCTION Merger and acquisitions have emerged as chief forces in the contemporary financial and economic environment. They have been a source of corporate growth and in India, it has changed radically after the liberalization of Indian economy. Mergers and acquisitions came up as one of the most efficient methods of such corporate restructuring, and became an essential part of the long-term trade strategy of corporates in India. The sole three chief objectives at the back any MA transaction were found to be: Improving Profitability Rapid growth in scale and closer time to market Acquirement of new technology Many in corporate India would be jealous of the Tata Groups strategy around mergers and acquisition. In the past 8 years, the Tata Group had made 35 overseas acquisitions, including coal and iron ore mines, adding up Rs 78,000 crore, mostly in the past 3 years. Research problem To examine the consequence of going global through mergers and acquisitions and the traders long term and short term earnings respectively. This would aid in studying the impact on companies financials past the merger or acquisition. To also determine the enterprise value of the corporation by comparing it with the peer group and studying the value of the firm Objective of the study To analyze the a thorough detailed case study of 3 companies of Tata Group who merged or acquired in the past years. To evaluate the closing price of 3 companies previous to and post acquisition To weigh up the key financial ratios of 3 companies pre and post acquisition To do valuation of two companies through enterprise value and contrast the value with peer group and examine in detail Review of literature The subsequent studies are the few existing work reviewed which were conducted by researchers in the sight of analyzing the financial performance during and post merger activity across different time periods. Effect of mergers on corporate performance in India, writer Mrs. Vardhana Pawaskar (2001), considered the impact of mergers on corporate performance. A case study, assessed the financial performance of a cloth unit by using ratio analysis. It compared the before and after merger performance of the corporations between 1992 and 2000 to identify their financial character. The study found that the financial fitness was never in the strong zone during the whole study period and ratio analysis highlighted that decision-making incompetence accounted for a good number of the problems. Forecasting the viability and operational efficiency by Mr Mulla through use of ratio analysis, suggested matching up efficiency and success of all facets of management and put the company on a lucrative footing. The study of a sample of firms, restructured through mergers, showed that the merging firms were at the inferior end in terms of liquidity of the industry. The merged firms gave better performance than industry in terms of profitability. Mergers and operating performance by Mr. Mantravadi: An Indian perspective, attempted to examine the impact of mergers on the performance post industrial reforms, by investigating some pre- and post-merger financial ratios, with chosen sample firms, and all mergers linking public and private limited companies The study results suggested that there are minor variations in terms of impact on financial performance of subsequent mergers across different intervals of time in India. It also indicated that for mergers between the same groups of companies in India, there has been deterioration in performance and ROI. Mergers acquisitions in the banking sector presents the Indian scenario, author Mr. Selvam (2007) has analyzed the impacts of stock price changes to mergers and acquisitions behavior taken place in banking industry with particular reference to private and public sector banks. Found that share prices are market sensitive. From the financial analysis it was noted that greater part of the banks went for branch extension and this has affected profitability to some extent and it resulted in harmful competition among the players. To add up the review of literature, many offerings have offered diverse perspectives of merger in different industries globally and explained the valuation techniques followed by merging companies, and shareholders possessions effect due to merger. From the review of several papers evaluating the pre and post merger performance of merged companies, it is incidental that majority of the studies powerfully support the concept of improved post merger performance due to merger and it is valuable to the acquirer companies. METHODOLOGY Methodology of the study Sample selection There are several mergers within the TATA Group during the study period from 01.04.2006 to 31.03.2009. For the purpose of corporate analysis, it was decided to select three of the highest deals which merged/ acquired under the TATA Group during the study period. Hence, the sample size of this study is confined to 3. Besides, while selecting the sample, following points were taken into account. Acquirer and target companies ought to belong to the same industry. Availability of information on the merger and industry. Period of the study The present study covers a period of one year from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2009. But in order to evaluate the financial performance of sample companies on a comparative basis, 15-20 days before merger and after merger were considered. Sources of data The present study fundamentally depends on secondary data. The required data on financial performance prior and post merger were composed and they were obtained from Prowess software, Internet sources, Business Journals (ICFAI JOURNAL ON M A) The data were also collected from books, and newspapers. Tools used In order to study the financial performance of acquirer and target companies, ratios Debt-Equity Ratio, ROCE (%),net profit margin, P/E, EPS, OPM(%) and valuation. (1) Analysis of financial performance The pre-merger average performance of the companies were compared with the post- merger performance of the joint firm. The present study attempts to calculate and study the pre and post merger performance of acquirer and target companies by using financial ratios in order to determine whether mergers resulted in shareholders wealth or not. Accordingly, the following null hypothesis has been tested: H0: The post merger financial performance of the combined firm is not significantly different from the aggregate performance of the acquirer and target companies prior to the merger. (2) Ratios Debt-Equity Ratio: A gauge of a companys financial leverage obtained by dividing  the total liabilities  by  stockholders equity. It shows what proportion of equity and debt the company is presently using to finance their assets. Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) : ROCE compares earnings with the invested capital in the company. It is like Return on Assets (ROA), but also considers sources of financing Net profit margin: The profit margin says how much profit a company makes for every 1 Rupee it generates in revenue or sales. Profit margins vary with industry to industry, but all else being equal, the greater a companys profit margin compared to its competitors, the better. P/E: It is a gauge of the price paid for a share relative to the annual net income or the net profit earned by the firm per share. EPS: The portion of a companys profit which is allocated to each outstanding share of common stock.  Earnings per share  acts as an indicator of  a companys profitability. OPM: Operating margin is a measurement of the proportion of a companys revenue that is left over after variable costs of production such as wages, and raw materials have been paid. A healthy operating margin is required for a company to be able to pay for its fixed costs, such as interest on debt. Also known as operating profit margin and net profit margin. (3) Enterprise Value Enterprise value is a figure that, in theory, represents the entire cost of a company if someone were to acquire it. Enterprise value is a more accurate estimate of takeover cost than market capitalization because it takes includes a number of important factors such as preferred stock, debt, and cash reserves that are excluded from the latter metric. ANALYSIS OF DATA TATA GROUP OF COMPANIES One of the Indias largest business groups in the country. It has about 96 operating companies. Diverse business in 7 sectors. Revenues equivalent to 5.3% of Indias GDP. Group revenue FY 2008: Rs 251,543 Cr. / $ 62.5 b. Group profit FY 2008: Rs 21,578 Cr. / $ 5.4 b .Its 27 publicly listed companies have a combined market capitalization which is the 2nd highest among all business houses in India. Largest employer in private sector over 300,000 employees. A shareholder base of over 2.9 million. Operations in over 80 countries. Products and services exported to 85 countries Tata is a rapidly growing business group based in India with significant international operations. Revenues in 2007-08 are estimated at $62.5 billion (around Rs251, 543 crore), of which 61 per cent is from business outside India. The group employs around 350,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics. The business operations of the Tata group currently encompass seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The groups major companies are beginning to be counted globally. Considering two of the largest mergers of TATA Group -Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the world after it acquired Corus. -Tata Communications is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers. TATA STEEL-CORUS About the acquisition Date: 30th March 2007 Acquirer: Tata Steel Limited Target company: Corus Plc. Stake: 100 % Deal amount: US$ 12201 m Sector: Steel sector MERGER On January 31, 2007, India based Tata Steel Limited (Tata Steel) acquired the Anglo Dutch steel company, Corus Group Plc (Corus) for US$ 12.20 billion. The merged entity, Tata-Corus, employed 84,000 people across 45 countries in the world. It had the capacity to produce 27 million tons of steel per annum, making it the fifth largest steel producer in the world as of early 2007. Before the acquisition, the major market for Tata Steel was India. The Indian market accounted for sixty nine percent of the companys total sales. Almost half of Corus production of steel was sold in Europe (excluding UK). The UK consumed twenty nine percent of its production. After the acquisition, the European market (including UK) would consume 59 percent of the merged entitys total production. DEAL : An auction was initiated on January 31, 2007, and after nine rounds of bidding, TATA Steel could finally clinch the deal with its final bid 608 pence per share, almost 34% higher than the first bid of 455 pence per share of Corus. Synergies There were many likely synergies between Tata Steel, the lowest-cost producer of steel in the world, and Corus, a large player with a significant presence in value-added steel segment and a strong distribution network in Europe. Among the benefits to Tata Steel was the fact that it would be able to supply semi-finished steel to Corus for finishing at its plants, which were located closer to the high-value markets The Pitfalls Though the potential benefits of the Corus deal were widely appreciated, some analysts had doubts about the outcome and effects on Tata Steels performance. They pointed out that Corus EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) at 8 percent was much lower than that of Tata Steel which was at 30 percent in the financial year 2006-07 COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION FINDINGS As we can see from the line chart that the %cumulative abnormal return before acquisition was sharply decreasing since past month with not even a single glimpse of positive return on any single day. But as soon as the acquisition took place, the earnings showed a marginal rise and again got back to the level where it was just before the acquisition. This happened due to very large debt generated due to overpaying by acquiring the Corus at a very high price of 608 pence per share as compared to previously valued 455 pence per share. INTERPRETATION Debt equity ratio on post acquisition increase because Corus debt was high it was GBP1.6b to buy Corus and so its debt is almost 116% more than in pre acquisition. ROCE shows that post acquisition is very less as compared to pre acquisition it has negative percentage because company has short term returns after one year it will improve in the long run. Net profit margin has very less change as profit is not much affected. P/E increases in post acquisition by 30.2% which show high future cash flow. ROE is decreasing by 37.7 which show that it has more debt than equity. EPS has a very minor change. Operating profit margin is reduced by 9.1% which shows that it has low profit. TATA COMMUNICATION-NTT DOCOMO About the acquisition Date: 13th November 2008 Acquirer: Ntt-Docomo Target company: Tata Teleservices Ltd. Stake: 26 % Deal amount: US$ 2700 m Sector: Tele-communication MERGER Tata Teleservices has sold a stake of 26% to Japans NTT DoCoMo. The deal value is $2.7 bn. Tata Tele has 30 million CDMA subscribers and is rolling out its GSM services. Some say the deal is over-valued and some say its not easy to put value on the fastest growing mobile market in the world. India is the fastest growing market second only to China. It adds 10mn subscribers every month. The current subscriber base stands at 300+million and is expected to be 700 million in 2012. That is almost double to todays numbers. The Road ahead Great deal it may be, but it has its risks. One reason is that telecom deals have been controversial in recent times. This goes back to late last year when the government sold pan-India licenses for $333 million apiece, amid a welter of controversy. DoCoMo, in accordance with regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, expects to make an open offer to acquire up to 20 per cent of outstanding equity shares of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML), a Tata telecommunication company, through a joint tender offer along with Tata Sons. TTSL and TTML through the Tata Indicom brand, have increased their combined share of the fast-growing Indian mobile market and their combined subscriber base now stands at over 30 million. TTSL expects to leverage DoCoMos expertise in the development and delivery of value-added services, where DoCoMo is a firmly established market leader. FINDINGS Debt equity ratio on post acquisition debt is increasing which shows company debt is increasing after merger. ROCE is constant it has not change much.Net profit margin increases by 11.10 as it income increases in post acquisition as compared to pre acquisition. P/E highly increases in post acquisition from 0 to 12%. ROE is decreasing by 1.53% which shows that it slightly more debt than equity. EPS is increasing drastically by 24.27% which is very profitable for investors. Operating profit margin is increased by 15.43% which shows that company profit margin is very fairly profitable. COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION INTERPRETATION The return of the target company Tata Communication has been very poor since the past 15 to 20 days before the acquisition but it almost got to break-even soon after the acquisition date. This sustained for the next 8 to 10 days but again got back into negative returns zone due to poor customer support to the newly entered Docomo brand in highly competitive communications market in India. TATA MOTOR JLR About the acquisition Date: 27th March 2008 Acquirer: Tata Motors Ltd Target company: Jaguar Land Rover Stake: 100 % Deal amount: US$ 2300m Sector: Automotive Detailed Case Study In June 2008, India-based Tata Motors Ltd. announced that it had completed the acquisition of the two iconic British brands Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) from the US-based Ford Motors for US$ 2.3 billion. Tata Motors stood to gain on several fronts from the deal. One, the acquisition would help the company acquire a global footprint and enter the high-end premier segment of the global automobile market. After the acquisition, Tata Motors would own the worlds cheapest car the US$ 2,500 Nano, and luxury marquees like the Jaguar and Land Rover. Though there was initial skepticism over an Indian company owning the luxury brands, ownership was not considered a major issue at all. According to industry analysts, some of the issues that could trouble Tata Motors were economic slowdown in European and American markets, funding risks, currency risks etc. The Challenges Morgan Stanley reported that JLRs acquisition appeared negative for Tata Motors, as it had increased the earnings volatility, given the difficult economic conditions in the key markets of JLR including the US and Europe. Moreover, Tata Motors had to incur a huge capital expenditure as it planned to invest another US$ 1 billion in JLR. This was in addition to the US$ 2.3 billion it had spent on the acquisition. Tata Motors had also incurred huge capital expenditure on the development and launch of the small car Nano and on a joint venture with Fiat to manufacture some of the companys vehicles in India and Thailand. This, coupled with the downturn in the global automobile industry, was expected to impact the profitability of the company in the near future CURRENT SCENARIO In less than three years after its acquisition, Jaguar Land Rover has metamorphosed from a millstone around Tata Motors neck into its crowning jewel. In the June 2010 quarter, JLR division accounted for nearly 70% of the companys net profit and over 60% of its revenues on the consolidated basis. This was more than what the market has expected and the stock is up by nearly 150% in the past two trading sessions. JLR benefited from an improvement in its pricing power and a favourable exchange rate in the US dollar and the euro. The two worked in tandem and resulted in a sharp 60% jump in JLR revenue per unit to around  £38,000 in June 2010 quarter compared to the  £23,800 a year ago. With the raw material costs remaining benign, it led to a sharp improvement in the divisions operating margin and its reported net profit of  £221 million (`1,613.3 crore) in the first quarter as against a net loss of  £64 million (`467 crore) a year ago. FINDINGS Debt equity ratio is increasing by 42.27% as Tata took loan of banks to acquire JLR.ROCE increases vey high by 343.60% as compared to pre acquisition as it gauges that company that generate its earnings from the total pool of capital which indicates profitability.Net profit margin increases as it income increases in post acquisition as compared to pre acquisition. P/E highly decreases in post acquisition by 60.1% which in investor point of view they will be profitable to invest to get high earning. ROE is highly increasing by 480.15% which shows that it has more equity than debt. EPS is increasing drastically by 480.15% which is very profitable for investors. Operating profit margin is reduced by 41.44% which shows that company profit margin is very less. COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION INTERPRETATION As we can see from the line chart that the cumulative return before merger was negative and the entire trend is moving in the negative direction due to poor returns of tata motors. A soon as the acquisition took place, the highly profit generating Jaguar as well as Land Rover added to the profit and earnings of the tata motors. The brand value of JLR added to the highly reputable Tata Group and the companys balance sheet. This can be clearly seen in the line chart above. VALUATION AND INTERPRETATION EV Multiples of Tata Corus Tata Steel and Corus Group deal happened at high multiples compared to its peers. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands half compared to the deal multiples. Sales Multiple: The average sales multiple of its peers is 1.17x compared to the deal of 0.68x of Corus Groups sales. This can be possible due to high sales value, reducing the multiple to 0.68x. The lowest multiple (Steel Authority of India) is at 0.73x. EBITDA Multiple: EBITDA multiple of its peers averages at 4.38x compared to the deal multiple of 7.02x of Corus Groups sales. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 4.38x. This is almost half of the deal multiple. It can be observed that Tata played very aggressively. EBIT Multiple: EBIT multiple of its peers averaged at 5.54x compared to the deal of 10.19x of Corus Groups sales. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 8.39x. PE Multiple: The PE multiple of the deal is very high on the account that the margins of Corus are very low compared to Tata Steel and other peers. The average PE multiples is 7.95x compared to 68.23x at which the deal haapened. EV Multiples of Tata NTT Docomo The deal of Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo happened at very high multiples. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands very low compared to the deal multiples. Sales Multiple: The average sales multiple of its peers is 5.37x compared to the deal of 26.98x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 9.24x. Thus we can conclude that Tata Teleservices got very good price for its stake dilution for NTT Docmo. EBITDA Multiple: Again the average EBITDA multiple of its peers is very less, 16.35x compared to the deal of 99.81x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 26.74x. This is a huge difference. NTT Docomo paid 6 times more what it should have paid to Tata. EBIT Multiple: EBIT multiple of its peers is 25.5x compared to the deal of 952.96x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 41.02x. PE Multiple: The PE multiple for Tata Teleservices is negative as its net income is negative Note: The multiples are high on account that Sales and the profitability of Tata Teleservices is low, inturn giving very high multiples. Its sales stands at Rs. 1,815.5 Cr. compared to the average sales of Rs. 11,490.6 Cr. of its peers. FINDINGS FROM VALUATION OF ENTERPRISE VALUE MULTIPLE Tata Corus Tata Steel and Corus Group deal happened at high multiples compared to its peers. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands half compared to the deal multiples. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 4.38x. This is almost half of the deal multiple It can be observed that Tata played very aggressively as it paid high enterprise value as compared to our analysis. A reason for Corus to be sold is chance to Bail out of Debt and Financial stress. TATA Steel Paid 7.02 Times EBITDA of Corus Enterprise Value. The PE multiple of the deal is very high on the account that the margins of Corus are very low compared to Tata Steel and other peers the only company who has high P/E is Jindal steel. Tata NTT Docomo The deal of Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo happened at very high multiples. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands very low compared to the deal multiples. The average sales multiple of its peers is 5.37x compared to the deal of 26.98x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 9.24x. Thus we can conclude that Tata Teleservices got very good price for its stake dilution for NTT Docomo. The PE multiple for Tata Teleservices is negative as its net income is negative. EBITDA multiple of its peers is very less, 16.35x compared to the deal of 99.81x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 26.74x. This is a huge difference. NTT Docomo paid 6 times more what it should have paid to Tata. The multiples are high on account that Sales and the profitability of Tata Teleservices is low, in turn giving very high multiples. Its sales stands at Rs. 1,815.5 Cr. compared to the average sales of Rs. 11,490.6 Cr. of its peers. SUMMARY Except Tata Steel- Corus deal, all the other 2 acquisitions was well accepted by not only well accepted by the owners of the company (the shareholders) but even made the entire Tata group come into the eyes of fortune 500 list. In-fact it ranked at 56th position at a global level in 2009 CONCLUSION This study was undertaken to test what is the impact of mergers on the financials of acquiring corporate by examining some pre- merger and post-merger financial, in terms of impact on operating performance. The results from the analysis of pre- and post-merger operating performance ratios for the acquiring firms in the sample showed that there was a differential impact of mergers, for different industry sectors in India. Type of industry does seem to make a difference to the post-merger operating performance of acquiring firms. Expansion through mergers and acquisition is one of the best ways for any domestic company to step outside the shores of India in an international market place and acquit itself as a global player Company can turn into conglomerate in reasonably less time by capitalizing on its strengths of efficiency and effectiveness by acquiring relatively poor performing companies as TATA did in almost all its group of companies Recent examples of companies which adopted similar pattern of expansion are Renuka Sugars, Arcelor Mittal, Reliance, Essar Group, Aditya Birla Group, etc. One can study any of the above mentioned company and conclude that the key underlying decision of these companies expanding quickly and efficiently is their timely decision of merging and acquiring appropriate companies

Earth’s Magnetic Field Essay

Earth’s magnetic field is one of the world’s most complicated features. It started to be observed in 1845 by a scientist named Carl Friedman Gauss (Sarfati). The magnetic field is generated inside of the earth’s core and there are many scientists who still debate over how it was first created. There are also many arguments about the many changes that the field has gone through in it’s existence. These arguments are mostly either for a young-earth model or an old earth model. History of the magnetic filed Earth’s magnetic field is a field of electric current that is conducted from the earth’s solid inner core through the liquid outer core (Richard). The electrical current goes around the earth and through it at the north and south poles. The north pole was first discovered by James Ross in 1831 (nasa.gov). No one visited it again until the early 1900s. â€Å"In 1904, Roald Amundsen found the pole again and discovered that it had moved–at least 50 km since the days of Ross,† (nasa.gov). The north pole continued to move at an average of about 10 kilometers per year in the twentieth century (nasa.gov). More recently scientist Larry Newitt of the Geological Survey of Canada has said that it has been moving an average of 40 kilometers every year (nasa.gov). The past of earth’s magnetic field can be studied by past lava eruptions that have hardened. â€Å"When grains of the common magnetic mineral magnetite in volcanic lava or ash flows cool below its Curie point of 570 °C (1060 °F), the magnetic domains partly align themselves in the direction of the earth’s magnetic field at that time. Once the rock has fully cooled, the magnetite’s alignment is fixed,† (Sarfati). The Curie point of a substance is the temperature at which it loses its magnetism, so the lava must cool below this point before the magnetite can align(Sarfati). Using these records scientists have seen that the earth’s pole have switched several times in the past. What the magnetic field actually does that is beneficial to the earth is deflect cosmic rays. The magnetic currents push them toward the north and south poles. â€Å"The increase could knock out power grids, scramble the communications systems on spacecraft, temporarily widen atmospheric ozone holes, and generate more aurora activity,† (Roach). The effect that these cosmic rays would cause to humans are unknown though some think that they would cause tissue damage much like x-rays (Richard). It also reduces the emission of carbon 14 which makes the earth healthier (Humphreys). Magnetic field reversals Magnetic field reversals occur when the currents of the the outer core of the earth move the electrical current around enough that it actually flips upside down. Many scientists believe that when the poles switch places there is a period of time where the magnetic field does not exist, but the University of California professor Gary Glatzmaier says â€Å"It just gets more complicated,† (nasa.gov). He states that when the poles are reverse there will actually be multiple magnetic poles that appear all around the earth. â€Å"A south magnetic pole might emerge over Africa, for instance, or a north pole over Tahiti,†(nasa.gov). Earth’s magnetic field during a reversal (nasa.gov) Some old earth scientists believe that when poles reverse is caused by a second magnetic field coming into existence with an opposite polarity and it then overpowers the first. This idea works if you assume that the geodynamo model is true because if the current of the liquid metal causes the magnetic field then the currents are can make a new field easily (Richard). Once the first field decays the second takes over. Other old earth scientists believe that when the polarity changes it is just the electrical current being shifted enough by the liquid outer core that it reverses directions completely (nasa.gov). Both of these processes would take large amounts of time and since there is proof that there have been many reversals have occurred in the past, this is what old earth scientists can use as evidence that the earth is old (nasa.gov). Dr. Russell Humphreys accepted that reversals were real, unlike some previous creationists. He proposed that the process of convection could cause the magnetic field to reverse (Humphreys). Most young earth scientists believe that most of the reversals occurred during a global flood which occur in Genesis. Dr. John Baumgardner proposed that the Genesis Flood was caused by the plunging of tectonic plates (Sarfati). This would have made the outer parts of the liquid core to cool rapidly which would have sped up the process of convection. In this model reversals would have occurred once every week or two. The most stunning piece of evidence for this is a very thin layer of lava that was found that most have cooled within a few days weeks and the magnetite of the outside of the layer is aligned in opposite direction as the inside (Sarfati). Origins of the field Scientists that believe in the old-earth model have said that there’s is about 300,000 years in between magnetic field reversals and that each reversal takes around 10,000 years to complete (Roach). The electrical current which makes the field has been said to be generated through convection. The liquid of the outer core which conducts the electrical current is constantly moving (Richard). This movement is caused by the heating of the molten liquid by the inner core which causes it to rise and as soon as the liquid cools it will sink. This process is called convection (Richard). This idea that this process can generate an electric current is called the geodynamo model. Young earth scientists strongly disagree with this. The first point that they make is that the geodynamo model has no significant evidence even after decades of research (Humphreys). One proposed idea is that during creation God made atomic nuclei spin in the same direction (Humphreys). The spin of atomic nuclei creates a tiny magnetic field and if the spin of the atomic nulcei were aligned it would add up to a much larger field. Dr. Russell Humphreys who has a Ph.D. in physics says â€Å"as thermal collisions disoriented the nuclear spins, the laws of electricity predict a startup of an electric current within the core of the earth to sustain the field.† Genesis flood model of earth’s magnetic field decay and reversals (Humphreys) Field fluctuations As stated before, the magnetic field prevents some of the production of carbon 14. This also can be used to see the past of the field. This is a process called radiocarbon dating (Humphreys). Using this scientists have seen that the field has been increasing and decreasing in strength over time. These fluctuations are what most old earth scientists use to say that the current decrease is no more than just a fluctuation and that it is not a steady decrease (Richard). The young earth rebuttal for this again goes back to the Genesis flood. In a summary of Dr. Russell Humphrey’s paper on the magnetic field fluctuations of states that because the liquid of the outer core disrupted the electrical current during the flood there would have been what he called higher-order components (Humphreys). This means that there four poles or eight poles, etc, and these poles would die away faster than the two main poles. â€Å"The higher-order components can have either polarity, the strength of the field would fluctuate up and down, as different components died away at different rates.† If the young earth scientists proposed idea of the exponential decay of the magnetic earth of the field is correct then the earth cannot be more than 10,000 years old (Sarfati). At the rate that the field is currently decreasing, which has been calculated with the formula i = Ie-t/Ï„, the field would have been strong enough to melt the earth if it had been in existence longer than 10,000 years (sarfati). Conclusion Both of these groups of scientists have evidence that supports their main points. The earth’s magnetic field a very complicated system that has been around since the beginning of the earth. There has been much that scientists have learned from it and there are still many things that they have to learn about it.

How accurate is Source A when applied to the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organisation under Yasser Arafat since the 1960s ?

Official Question: â€Å"How accurate is Source A when applied to the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organisation under Yasser Arafat since the 1960s ?† Remember: you can use the Sources but must NOT cop out my suggestions. You CAN use this set of notes to form an outline of your answer. Yoru answer does NOT have to be very long as you are only asked to COMMENT on four small Pieces of Evidence. You must end up with a Conclusion in which YOU say whether what Source A says is â€Å"Accurate† or â€Å"Inaccurate†, so you need to start of your answer by saying what â€Å"Accurate† means to an historian THIS COURSEWORK IS EASIER THAN IT LOOKS AT FIRST!! Source A: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun [By Mao-Tse-Tung, Communist leader in the Civil War in China in the 1930s. He wrote this line in a book in 1938. In 1948 he took over all of China and became its leader. He was never elected] Source B: Since the 1980s, Yasser Araft has tried hard to change his image from that of â€Å"freedom fighter† to the idea of a sensible, moderate statesman. In 1988 he agreed that Israel had the right to exist [before he had wanted to wipe the whole country off the map]; in 1993, after secret meetings, he signed a peace deal with Israel. This gained some home rule and freedom for some Palestinians, but then people inside his own party, the PLO, began criticising him for doing a deal with the enemy. One group split away and formed a â€Å"terrorist† group named Hamas† [From a school text book published in 1997. Hamas still exists. The suicide â€Å"terrorist† bombers killing people in Israel today are from Hamas] Source C: When we hijack a plane it is more effective than killing 100 Israelis in war. The whole world now notices us, whereas before the world ignored us. The world is talking about us now [From interviews with PLO members in the 1970s, written up in a book published in 1997] Source D: Democratic governments will never give in to blackmail, violence and terror. Appeasement [being nice to the enemy] will only encourage more terror and bring more death [From a British newspaper in 2001 after Arab â€Å"terrorist† supporters of the Palestinians had tried to blow up the World Trade Centre in New York. This was before the September 11th attack on the Two Towers] Most countries in the world now change governments by having elections and votes. This was not always the case. In the 1930s the Mao-Tse-Tung said that elections were a waste of time and that if you wanted to get into power you had to use violence [See Source A] Once he had seized power in China he banned all elections [in case he lost !} and China is still a Communist country even today. So his Plan worked !!! You can see why it would seem attractive to small, unhappy groups of people such as the Palestinian Arabs, many of whom had been thrown out of their â€Å"own† land after the return of the Jews and after Israel had been set up as an independent country in 1948. Under its leader Yasser Arafat the PLO avoided fighting the Israelis face-to-face [there have been 4 Arab-Israeli wars, and the Israelis won all 4] and began to use what they called â€Å"guerrilla† or â€Å"freedom† fighting ideas [such as ambushes, bombings, assassinations etc] but which the Israelis and their powerful American allies still call â€Å"terrorism† [Remember George Bush calls the fighting in Iraq part of his struggle against â€Å"the world of terrorism†. The PLO claimed it was only using the same methods the Jews had used against the Romans 2000 years ago and also against the British army between 1945-1948, when some Jews killed British soldiers to try to get the British government to give the Jewish people their own homeland. So, said the Palestinians, if it was alright for you to use nasty ways of fighting to gain your freedom, then we can use the same ways ourselves. The problem is the use of the word â€Å"terrorism†, which is a word always used by one side to claim the other side is not fighting â€Å"decently† and â€Å"fairly†. A MODEL ANSWER [Do NOT copy this] Official Question: â€Å"How accurate is Source A when applied to the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organisation under Yasser Arafat since the 1960s ?† When a historian writes about the past he/she always tries to use evidence and sources to write a book that is â€Å"accurate†, by which he/she means does it tell the truth, or as near as we can get to the truth. The trouble is that there are always at least two sides to any argument [often many more] and even people on the same side will disagree with their own side, and sometimes start little civil wars. Also, people's ideas change: if their original plans do not work, sensible political leaders change their plans. This is what seems to have happened in the middle east situation, where both Palestinians Arabs and Israeli Jews claim the same piece of Land is â€Å"theirs†. By the 1960s the Palestinian Arabs were desperate. They claimed they had been thrown out of â€Å"their† homeland, where they had lived for 2000 years, by the Israeli Jews who had themselves been thrown out by the Romans 2000 years ago. These Jews had been moving back since the beginning of the 20th century, but huge numbers moved in after WW2 saying they wanted a land of their own where such horrors as the Nazi gas-chambers could never happen again. The Palestinian Arabs were sorry about what the Germans had done to the Jews, but said it had nothing to do with them. Even so, in 1948 a brand new country called Israel came into existence, and many thousands of Palestinian Arabs lost their land. The problem is still going on right now. Between 1948 and 1973 there were four Wars between the Israelis and the Arabs, trying to get the Palestinian Arabs back â€Å"home†, but the Arabs lost all four. So young Palestinian Arab men, lead by Yasser Arafat, set up the Palestine Liberation Organisation to win â€Å"freedom† [that's what Liberation means] for their people, this time using different ways of fighting: ambushes, bombings, sabotage, assassination, which they claimed they had copied from the Jews themselves. They based these plans on the words of the successful Chinese leader Mao-Tse-Tung [See Source A] but, basically, they didn't work. The world took no notice. So the PLO switched to blowing up targets outside Israel, in countries friendly to Israel: this was to get the world to at least notice there was a problem [see Source C]. Then, having got the rest of the world [especially the USA] to take some interest, Arafat switched his plans and starting talking to the Israelis, just as if he had always been a normal leader. The Israelis wanted peace [they said] so a peace deal was signed [see Source B]. But some PLO members said that Arafat had sold them out by talking to the enemy Israel, and they continued with their ideas of â€Å"terrorism†, even attacking their old friends in the PLO and, as we know now, committing acts of â€Å"terrorism† in other countries [see Source D]. Remember the connection between the Palestinian people's problems and the attacks in New York and Washington DC on 11/9/2001 by Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. So Source A was accurate once: â€Å"terrorism† used to work. But eventually both sides agree that it is better to sit down and talk, with both sides making a deal. [This is what is happening in Northern Ireland, where the IRA and the British are working with each other, while 20 years ago they were killing each other]. The problem in the Middle east is to convince people who have hated each other on-and-off for thousands of years that they can sit down, talk, and possibly even live side-by-side.

List of Halogens (Element Groups)

The halogen elements are located in group VIIA of the periodic table, which is the second-to-last column of the chart. This is a list of elements that belong to the halogen group and the properties that they share in common: Types of Halogens Depending on who you ask, there are either 5 or 6 halogens. Fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine definitely are halogens. Element 117, which has the placeholder name of ununseptium, might have some properties in common with the other elements. Even though it is in the same column or group of the periodic table with the other halogens, most scientists believe element 117 will behave more like a metalloid. So little of it has been produced, its a matter of prediction, not empirical data. FluorineChlorineBromineIodineAstatineTennessine (might behave as a halogen, at least in some respects) Halogen Properties These elements share some common properties that distinguish them from other elements on the periodic table. They are highly reactive nonmetals.Atoms of belonging to the halogen group have 7 electrons in their outermost (valence) shell. These atoms need one more electron in order to have a stable octet.Halogens are highly electronegative, with high electron affinities.The melting and boiling points of the halogens increase as you increase atomic number (as you move down the periodic table).The elements change their state of matter at room temperature and pressure as you increase atomic number. Fluorine and chlorine are gases. Bromine is a liquid element. Iodine is a solid. Scientists predict tennessine will be a solid at room temperature.