Making sense of the numbers
The dull 'thud' of a mighty tome hitting The Publican's City desk means only one thing; it's annual report time. Now, such documents aren't generally the most scintillating of reads. Usually a few nice photos and an encouraging word from the chairman are all one can hope for. So sifting through Young & Co's latest annual report last week it was a pleasant surprise to come across an interesting take on the profit and loss account and the balance sheet.
"Simplified", they call it. As well as the obligatory 'heavy' stuff at the back of the report, figures are explained in layman's, but still informative, terms. Under 'what's poured in' is turnover, eg, monies charged for products and services, while 'what's poured out' - cost of sales - highlights things like beer duty, repairs, depreciation and staff profit sharing. Operating profit - 'what's left' - is shown, less things like exceptionals, Wells & Young's operating profit share, net interest, etc. Apparently Young's numbers have been presented in this way since being introduced by the late John Young in the 1970s. Designed to help employees and small shareholders grasp the figures, the chairman would receive calls from grateful analysts too.
Long-established or not, it's an illuminating approach. Maybe others do the same, though I've not seen any examples. Young's 2007 report meanwhile reveals chief executive Stephen Goodyear saw his total salary rise a chunky 44 per cent to £308,469 last year. Still, that's reporting requirements for you.
It might be me, but things seem to have gone rather quiet on the corporate front recently. One regional brewer's money man told me he reckoned it was about time, given the heat the market had seen lately. Perhaps it's the lull before the storm, but the smoking ban seems to have removed the wind from the industry's corporate activity sails, at least for now.
