Newsgroup: it.arti.fumetti
Titolo: Lo stato finanziario della Marvel, ovvero, Jemas e Quesada funzionano?

Beh, direi di si'...
Ecco un quote da Newsrama:
********************
Shortly after the release of Marvel’s Fourth Quarter report for 2001
early today, a regular visitor who happens to be an investment banker
approached Newsarama and offered a brief analysis under the condition of
anonymity, but not because he works for Marvel, or any other company
directly affected by this news. You figure it out.
DISCLAIMER: This article is solely focused on summarizing the results of
Marvel’s press release. This is not a solicitation to purchase Marvel
Enterprises’ shares or other securities. This article is not affiliated
with any financial institution and is the sole opinion of its author.
Preliminary Credit Analysis of Marvel Enterprises 2001 Results
Summary of Terms:
EBITDA = "Earnings Before Interest expense, income Taxes, Depreciation
and Amortization". EBITDA also excludes extraordinary items (one time
expenses/gains). This is a commonly used financial figure that tries to
capture how much cash a company is producing to satisfy their
obligations (primarily interest on debt). 
"Net Income" is more an accounting figure, than an actual cash number.
It also reflects the effects of interest payments. A negative net income
is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the EBITDA is positive. 
To calculate EBITDA, start with Sales and subtract Cost of Sales and
Selling, General and Administrative expenses. 
Net Debt = Total Debt - Cash
2001 EBITDA and Credit Ratios
For a company emerging from bankruptcy, EBITDA is one of the most
important figures the company is focused on. Financial professionals use
this figure to calculate a company’s credit position and risk of
entering bankruptcy. Marvel’s increase of EBITDA from negative $4.3
million to positive $30.9 million is incredibly good news. Most
companies, especially Internet and telecom companies, which have or have
had negative EBITDA, are usually on the brink of filing for Chapter 11
("Entering Bankruptcy"). 
Two statistics used to measure the credit worthiness of companies are
"Net Debt / EBITDA" and "EBITDA / Interest Expense". Marvels’ current
Net Debt / EBITDA is 5.3x, which is relatively high and EBITDA /
Interest Expense (Excluding Other Income) is 1.1x, which is relatively
low. To enter into most new borrowing agreements, a company would at
minimum need to have Net Debt / EBITDA of approximately 3.0x and EBITDA
/ Interest Expense of approximately 2.0x. 
On the other hand, in December 2001, Marvel entered arranged a new loan
in which they could use money drawn from the loan to repurchase some of
the 12% Senior Notes that are outstanding. Marvel used this money to
buyback $99 million of these Notes at an average price of approximately
52% of their face value.
To put this in layman’s terms, Marvel borrowed money to replace debt
that was charging them a lot more interest then a new loan they took
out. Marvel was able to buy the $99 million of Notes for $51 million,
because they were trading for only 52% of their original value. Bonds
are sold in denominations of $1,000. This is the "face value" of a bond.
Bonds are also publicly traded just as stocks and if a company’s credit
condition deteriorates the "face value" of the bond will deteriorate.
This implies that if the bond were issued today, that the bond would
need to pay a higher interest rate then it originally did. 
What does this repurchase of the Senior Notes mean? In Marvel’s earnings
release, they estimate that the interest savings would be $10 million
annually. If we assume Marvel’s EBITDA remains flat at $30.9 million and
that interest expense goes from $27.1 to $17.1 million, that would imply
an EBITDA / Interest Expense ratio of 1.8x (an improvement of over
60%!). As stated in their press release, this action added some
financial stability and lowered their debt burden. 
This analysis was prepared quickly, so please treat this as a back of
the envelope look at Marvel, rather then a definite opinion. 
****************************
A parte la riduzione del debito (che spero porti ad un maggiore
interesse verso dtrategie a lungo termine, invece che a "eventi" a breve
termine per tirar su in fretta qualche dollaro), la cifra impressionante
e' il passaggio da un saldo passivo di 4,4 milioni di dollari ad uno in
attivo di 30.9 milioni di dollari...
Ovviamente, non si parla qui solo di fumetti (la Marvel ha tante
attivita' oltre alla carta stampata) ma non e' significativo che dopo
anni di tracolli in seguito a tante "strategie" basate su gimmiks,
copertine, edizioni limitate, acquisizioni per spazzare via la
concorrenza, e tutte le altre idiozie delle gestioni precedenti, la
"mossa vincente" si sia rivelata il semplice cercare di attirare autori
migliori?
--
Ciao, 
/\/\oreno

migliori?
cavolo, e non ci voleva certo un genio per capirlo! ma qualcuno con le
palle magari sě ;-)
Byez! >:o
-- 
NEURAL
ggenga<at>hotmail<punto>com (ICQ: 8971364)
'Adepto in tutte le arti, Maestro di nessuna'