|
Dividends
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-invested in the business (called retained earnings). The current year profit as well as the retained earnings of previous years are available for distribution; a corporation is usually prohibited from paying a dividend out of its capital. Distribution to shareholders may be in cash (usually a deposit into a bank account) or, if the corporation has a dividend reinvestment plan, the amount can be paid by the issue of further shares or by share repurchase. In some cases, the distribution may be of assets. The dividend received by a shareholder is income of the shareholder and may be subject to income tax (see dividend tax). The tax treatment of this income varies considerably between jurisdictions. The corporation does not receive a tax deduct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dividend Tax
A dividend tax is a tax imposed by a jurisdiction on dividends paid by a corporation to its shareholders (stockholders). The primary tax liability is that of the shareholder, though a tax obligation may also be imposed on the corporation in the form of a withholding tax. In some cases the withholding tax may be the extent of the tax liability in relation to the dividend. A dividend tax is in addition to any tax imposed directly on the corporation on its profits. Some jurisdictions do not tax dividends. To avoid a dividend tax being levied, a corporation may distribute surplus funds to shareholders by way of a share buy-back. These, however, are normally treated as capital gains, but may offer tax benefits when the tax rate on capital gains is lower than the tax rate on dividends. Another potential strategy is to for a corporation not to distribute surplus funds to shareholders, who benefit from an increase in the value of their shareholding. These may also be subject to capital g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ex-dividend Date
The ex-dividend date, also known as the reinvestment date, is an investment term involving the timing of payment of dividends on stocks of corporations, income trusts, and other financial holdings, both publicly and privately held. The ex-date or ex-dividend date represents the date on or after which a security is traded without a previously declared dividend or distribution. Usually, but not necessarily, the opening price is the last closing price less the dividend amount. A person purchasing a stock before its ex-dividend date, and holding the position before the market opens on the ex-dividend date, is entitled to the dividend. A person purchasing a stock on its ex-dividend date or after will not receive the current dividend payment. To determine the ultimate eligibility of a dividend or distribution, the record date, not the ex-date, is relevant. Each shareholder entered in the shareholders' register at the record date is entitled to a dividend. Usually, the person owning the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles V Sydney Meat-Preserving Co Ltd
''Miles v Sydney Meat-Preserving Co Ltd'' was a 1912 decision of the High Court of Australia regarding directors' duties and shareholder primacy. Businessman William John Miles sued the company, of which he was a major shareholder, for its failure to pay out dividends. The court found by a 2–1 majority that there was no fiduciary duty of the board of directors to maximise shareholder value. Background The Sydney Meat-Preserving Company (Limited) was established in 1871 by a private act of the parliament of New South Wales, for the purposes of "carrying on the business of meat preserving and disposing of and exporting the products". The operations of the company were governed by a deed of settlement which provided that a dividend should be paid to shareholders from the "clear bona fide net profits" of the company, although the board of directors could in its discretion set aside profits as retained earnings.. A majority of the shareholders of the company were graziers, and over t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Share Repurchase
Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the re-acquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way (relative to dividends) of returning money to shareholders. When used in coordination with increased corporate leverage, buybacks can increase share prices. In most countries, a corporation can repurchase its own stock by distributing cash to existing shareholders in exchange for a fraction of the company's outstanding equity; that is, cash is exchanged for a reduction in the number of shares outstanding. The company either retires the repurchased shares or keeps them as treasury stock, available for re-issuance. Under U.S. corporate law, there are six primary methods of stock repurchase: open market, private negotiations, repurchase " put" rights, two variants of self-tender repurchase (a fixed price tender offer and a Dutch auction), and accelerate repurchases. More than 95% of the buyback programs worldwide are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Dividend
A special dividend is a payment made by a company to its shareholders, that the company declares to be separate from the typical recurring dividend cycle, if any, for the company. Usually when a company raises the amount of its normal dividend, the investor expectation is that this marks a sustained increase. In the case of a special dividend, however, the company is signalling that this is a one-off payment. Therefore, special dividends do not markedly affect valuation or yield calculations, unless the amount is large—in which case they ''do'' markedly affect valuation as they are a direct and large depletion of the assets of the company. Typically, special dividends are distributed if a company has exceptionally strong earnings that it wishes to distribute to shareholders, or if it is making changes to its financial structure, such as debt ratio. A prominent example of a special dividend was the $3 dividend announced by Microsoft in 2004, to partially relieve its balance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Cash Flow
In corporate finance, free cash flow (FCF) or free cash flow to firm (FCFF) is the amount by which a business's operating cash flow exceeds its working capital needs and expenditures on fixed assets (known as capital expenditures). It is that portion of cash flow that can be extracted from a company and distributed to creditors and securities holders without causing issues in its operations. As such, it is an indicator of a company's financial flexibility and is of interest to holders of the company's equity, debt, preferred stock and convertible securities, as well as potential lenders and investors. Free cash flow can be calculated in various ways, depending on audience and available data. A common measure is to take the earnings before interest and taxes, add depreciation and amortization, and then subtract taxes, changes in working capital and capital expenditure. Depending on the audience, a number of refinements and adjustments may also be made to try to eliminate distortion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earnings Per Share
Earnings per share (EPS) is the monetary value of earnings per outstanding share of common stock for a company. It is a key measure of corporate profitability and is commonly used to price stocks. In the United States, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) requires EPS information for the four major categories of the income statement: continuing operations, discontinued operations, extraordinary items, and net income. Calculating Preferred stock rights have precedence over common stock. Therefore, dividends on preferred shares are subtracted before calculating the EPS. When preferred shares are cumulative, annual dividends are deducted whether or not they have been declared. Dividends in arrears are not relevant when calculating EPS. ;Basic formula :Earnings per share = ;Net income formula :Earnings per share = ;Continuing operations formula :Earnings per share = Diluted earnings per share ''Diluted earnings per share'' (diluted EPS) is a company's earnings per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dividend Reinvestment Plan
A dividend reinvestment program or dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) is an equity investment option offered directly from the underlying company. The investor does not receive dividends directly as cash; instead, the investor's dividends are directly reinvested in the underlying equity. The investor must still pay tax annually on his or her dividend income, whether it is received as cash or reinvested. DRIPs allow the investment return from dividends to be immediately invested for the purpose of price appreciation and compounding, without incurring brokerage fees or waiting to accumulate enough cash for a full share of stock. Some DRIPs are free of charge for participants, while others do charge fees and/or proportional commissions. Similarly income trusts and closed-end funds, which are numerous in Canada, can offer a distribution reinvestment plan and a unit purchase plan which operate principally the same as other plans. Because DRIPs, by their nature, encourage long-term inve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Board Of Directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations (including the jurisdiction's corporate law) and the organization's own constitution and by-laws. These authorities may specify the number of members of the board, how they are to be chosen, and how often they are to meet. In an organization with voting members, the board is accountable to, and may be subordinate to, the organization's full membership, which usually elect the members of the board. In a stock corporation, non-executive directors are elected by the shareholders, and the board has ultimate responsibility for the management of the corporation. In nations with codetermination (such as Germ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Income Statement
An income statement or profit and loss accountProfessional English in Use - Finance, Cambridge University Press, p. 10 (also referred to as a ''profit and loss statement'' (P&L), ''statement of profit or loss'', ''revenue statement'', ''statement of financial performance'', ''earnings statement'', ''statement of earnings'', ''operating statement'', or ''statement of operations'') is one of the financial statements of a company and shows the company's revenues and expenses during a particular period. It indicates how the revenues (also known as the ''“top line”'') are transformed into the net income or net profit (the result after all revenues and expenses have been accounted for). The purpose of the income statement is to show managers and investors whether the company made money (profit) or lost money (loss) during the period being reported. An income statement represents a period of time (as does the cash flow statement). This contrasts with the balance sheet, which repre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (listed company), which facilitates the trade of shares, or not (unlisted public company). In some jurisdictions, public companies over a certain size must be listed on an exchange. In most cases, public companies are ''private'' enterprises in the ''private'' sector, and "public" emphasizes their reporting and trading on the public markets. Public companies are formed within the legal systems of particular states, and therefore have associations and formal designations which are distinct and separate in the polity in which they reside. In the United States, for example, a public company is usually a type of corporation (though a corporation need not be a public company), in the United Kingdom it is usually a public limited company (plc), i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Structured Finance
Structured finance is a sector of finance - specifically financial law - that manages leverage and risk. Strategies may involve legal and corporate restructuring, off balance sheet accounting, or the use of financial instruments. Securitization provides $15.6 trillion in financing and funded more than 50% of U.S. household debt last year. At the end of the day, through securitization and structured finance, more families, individuals, and businesses have access to essential credit, seamlessly and at a lower price. With more than 370 member institutions, the Structured Finance Association (SFA) is the leading trade association for the structured finance industry. SFA’s purpose is to help its members and public policymakers grow credit availability and the real economy in a responsible manner. ISDA conducted market surveys of its Primary Membership to provide a summary of the notional amount outstanding of interest rate, credit, and equity derivatives, until 2010. The ISDMargin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
