Downsizing: Those activities designed to reduce expenses and make an organisation more efficient, reflecting a ‘lean and mean’ mentality among senior management.
Economic value added (EVA):A method for evaluating companies by comparing the rate of return on investment with the weighted average cost of capital. Companies seen to be earning less than their cost of capital are said to be destroying value, while those that have a rate of return above their cost of capital are creating value.
Fallen angel (US):A bond, initially of US investment grade quality, subsequently declining below that standard, then sold at high yield.
Globex: An overnight electronic trading system for futures and options developed in 1992 jointly by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade and Reuters, with the Paris Bourse.
Securities: 1. A pledge of financial or physical property to be surrendered in the event of failure to repay a loan. 2. Any medium of investment in the money market or capital market, e.g. a money-market instrument, a bond, a share. 3. A term used to refer only to bonds, and shares, as distinct from money market assets.
Taxation: A compulsory transfer of money from private individuals, institutions and commercial enterprises to finance government expenditure. It may be levied upon wealth or income or in the form of a surcharge on prices.
Tax haven: A financial centre that offers a more favourable tax environment than that enjoyed in their home territory by the non-residents who invest there. Tax havens also called ‘offshores financial centres’ provides a base for offshore bonds, e.g. unit trusts or other forms of managed portfolio investments.
Unlisted company: A company, the shares for which are not admitted for trading on a major stock exchange. Unlisted companies, also referred to as unquoted companies, may nonetheless have their shares quoted and traded on unlisted securities markets.
Viewdata: The provision of selected information (e.g. on a share price) through, for example, television screens. In teletext or videotext the viewer calls up pages of information by keying in numbers selected from a directory on the screen via a keyboard (Ceefax and Oracle).
Source: Penguin Int’l Dictionary of Business & Finance
Compiled by Osman Kargbo: ousafrik@yahoo.com, +220 5221982/7345313
