Dirk Slander: Man with a Mission :: Short Story Stories Essays

Dirk Slander: Man with a Mission "Move your slag Princess!" The henchmen shouted at Princess Bithics, pushing her roughly with the end of his gun. The princess stumbled up the step in front of her and banged her knee on the ground. Dirk Slander struggled in his bonds to move toward her, but his captor tightened the grip on Dirk's neck, and punched Dirk in the back to quite him down. "None of that." A scratchy voice whispered in his ear. The man's hot breath floated over Dirk's shoulder and assaulted his nose; it smelled of old wine and rotten eggs. "You be a good boy Mr. Slander, or I tell Randolph there to give your Princess the once over." The man punched Dirk in the back again to make his point. Dirk gritted his teeth and grunted, but didn't cry out. Relaxing a bit, he allowed himself to be pulled back from the princess. She staggered to her feet, tentatively tested the bruised knee, and continued up the stone steps, now walking with a small limp. Dirk had no doubts she was in pain. Sweat beaded around her temples, causing her fine black bangs to stick to her forehead. Dirt was smeared on her cheeks, and blood from her bottom lip trailed off the corner of her mouth down her small but determined chin. She looked nothing like the Princess of Casmir, in fact Dirk would have thought her a different girl entirely if her eyes still didn't hold that radiating icy glare. Dirk had to admire her spirit; most women would be a bubbling mass of emotion by now. The princess had moxy, no doubt about it. "How much of the treasure did Gorgonzola promise you?" Dirk asked the man behind him, keeping one eye on the princess. "He promised me enough, don't you worry about that." Bree answered, and jabbed Dirk with the end of his pistol. Dirk grunted again, but managed to keep his footing. "Watching you die is all the payment I need." "You really think Gorgonzola is going to split with you? What's to stop him from double crossing you the way he double crossed us?" Dirk asked. While he talked, he tested his bonds. He hoped Bree couldn't see him struggling in the darkening twilight. "Mr. Slander I never trust anyone." Bree said, his voice sounded bored and tired. "Which is why I'm the one with the gun and you're the one marching to your death.

Torstar Case Report

Group-based case report Torstar Corporation BUSN81 Theory of Corporate Finance 2011 Autumn 1. Introduction The case of Torstar Corporation suggests the plan and result of repurchasing its Class B shares in December of 1997. Besides this, the situation of its business structure, capital structure and expenditures, future plan are also described in the case. Therefore, the purpose of our case study is to state, analyze and drew to some important conclusions about Torstar Corporation, and try to estimate its power to compete with a new national newspaper. . Background Torstar Corporation was incorporated on February 6, 1958 and published Canada’s largest newspaper Toronto Star. It had two main rivals which are Sun Media Corp. and the Globe and Mail. One launching second national newspaper by Southam Inc. would also be one competitor of The Star. Since 1975, by acquisition of domestic and international book publishing and supplementary educational products, Torstar found its three major business, newspapers, book publishing and supplementary education. After the acquisition of Troll in fiscal 1997, it also has one 3-year-time plan to acquire more companies which fit with its core business at the reasonable price. As of March 31, 1998, Torstar share structure included 5 million Class A voting shares and 34 million Class B non-voting shares. Since they believed prevailing Class B stocks were undervalued, they began to repurchase it back from December 17, 1997. In 1997 the debt-to-total-asset ratio was 18%, and management believed that 30% was more appropriate. Actually they also suppose that they could carry a 50% debt-to-total-asset ratio if they had a suitable strategic acquisition. Therefore, based on this background, we will analysis the effects of repurchasing stocks of Torstar, the advantages and disadvantages of its leverage ratio and its ways to investment. Then by adding some assumptions, one prediction of Torstar’s power to compete with new launching rival is possible. 3. Analysis 4. 1 Overview of Cash Flow, debt, Operating Situation and Income The company was doing well so far, until 1997. The cash flow, operating situation and the income were all healthy. We can conclude that from the Balance-Sheet the company had adequate cash  flow, exhibit 3 shows that the operating cash flow kept increasing from 1995 to 1997 with the free cash flow, this was enough cash for Torstar facing with some possible risky. The only problem is that how to stop the continued increasing free cash flow since too much cash means increasing costs of keeping cash and decreasing market value of cash. The amount about $50,000 would be a good expectation. The three main business of newspaper, book and supplementary education were operated well, they had sustainable increasing revenue and stable expenditure, so the profit was increasing positively after 1993 acquiring the business of supplementary education, especially in 1997, it got a rapid increasing of net income. See the return of equity below, it shows a well increasing on return of investors. (Base on Net Income over Total Equity) The debt ratio was a little bit low as our analysis, it had space to increase. But how? Increasing dividend payment or repurchase in the open market? We analyzed these two possible ways below. 3. 2 Dividend policy Torstar Corporation has a stable dividend policy recent years which was to pay out 30 to 35 percent of the previous year’s operating cash flows. Cash dividend was paid regular quarterly which was keeping $0. 26 per share in 1997. Dividend empirically decreased in the propensity of firms due to its benefits are not attractive than repurchase, but it is still important for management. Advantage of payout dividends * Dividends may appeal to investors who desire stable cash flow but do not want to incur transactions cost from periodically selling share of stocks * On behalf of stockholders, paying dividends can keep cash from investors * Dividends can be used to reduce agency cost of managerial discretion * Managers may increase dividends to signal optimism concerning future cash flow * Disadvantage of payout dividends * Dividends are double taxed * Dividends can reduce internal sources of financing. Dividends may force the firm to forgo positive NPV projects or to reply on costly external equity financing * Firms often view dividends as a commitment to their stockholders and quite hesitant to reduce an existing dividends. Once established, dividend cuts would adversely affect the firm’s stock price as a negative signal As illustrated by Torstar, a stable cash flow in paying dividends implied a well operating status. The sale of Hebdo provided additional financial flexibility in 1997, free cash flow increased rapidly as can be seen in Appendix. An extra or special cash dividend and share repurchase are two choices to payout adequate cash. Special dividend is expressly not intended to be a recurring event, but as mentioned above, paying dividends with the tax drawback and may produce a negative signal when fluctuating. So keeping the stable payout ratio was a better choice for Torstar. 3. 3 Repurchase Compared with dividend payout, shares repurchase have the listed effects on Torstar Corp, * Send a costly signal to investors that stock of Torstar is a good investment. Recent investments seem to cause side-effect on investor’s confidence about the company. As mentioned in the article, institutional investors treat Torstar as a ‘pure play’ investment into the area of newspaper and book publisher. But from year 1995 to 1997, acquisitions into children’s supplementary education products are viewed as not favorable. They hope Torstar Corporation can continue the historical expansion of the newspaper and book division. In order to mitigate the side-effect caused by recent investment. Repurchase would result in fewer shares outstanding and thus higher equity value per share which leads to a better performance of the stock. It also sends a signal to the market that the management believes the stock is undervalued. The price of the stock would go up. As a result of the repurchase sends a strong signal to the investors. The signal is costly as a repurchase would use up corporate cash and hard to mimic. * Increase the EPS which shows great confidence of future performance Repurchase would decrease the number of shares outstanding which leads to directly change of EPS of the Torstar Corporation. In the interim financial statements, the EPS shows great improvements after the repurchase. (Show in Figure 1) Figure 1 EPS change in 1997 * Availability of excess cash from operations By checking the interim financial statements, cash provided by operating activities of Torstar Corporation face an increase in the year 1997, from 25. 6 million to 130 million dollars. The retained cash from operation activities is too much as the normal on-going capital expenditures was expected to be 25 million to 30 million dollars. Additionally, Capital cycle in the publishing industry is approximately six years and Torstar Corporation has recently modernized its plant. There’s no major capital expenditures were forecast for the near future. Thus, excess cash should be paid out. By checking the retained cash in the Quarter 1, 2008, the operating cash is 27. 97 million dollar. It is sufficient for on-going capital expenditure. (shown in figure 2) Reduction in excess cash would reduce the agency cost of managerial discretion as the manager has fewer resources to pursuing consuming perks. Figure 2 Cash provided by operating activities Compared with the dividends payout, repurchase is tax efficient as dividends is taxable. Compared with dividends payout, repurchase avoid price drop results from dividend issuance. Institutional investors are happy when the performance of the stock is good. High price shows the strong performance of the stock. * Optimize capital structure. Torstar’s long-term debt outstanding was reduced from 321 million in 1996 to 197 million in 1997 result in a debt-to-total assets ratio of percent. While the management believed that a 30 percent target debt-to-assets ratio was more appropriate. Too less debt may cause the loss of tax shield and influence the value of the firm. While at this level of debt-to-assets ratio, the risk is still acceptable. Torstar Corporation still has excess debt capacity for future capital expansion. Thus repurchase can decrease the shares outstanding, and also decrease the value of assets. It would push up the debt-to-assets ratio to the appropriate level. By using the interim financial statements, we get the trend of debt-to-assets ratio. In December 31 1997, the decrease of debt-to-assets ratio is mainly a result of the long-term debt decreasing from 510. 007 million to 197. 322 million dollars. And in March 31 1998, the increase in debt-to-assets ratio is a result of repurchasing shares (decreasing in value of total assets). 4. Conclusion After analyzing, we all agree with the activity the Torstar hold, stock repurchasing transfer a strong and credible signaling to the market that the company is in a good situation and will do better in the future, the debt ratio increases and the market value will also goes up. We estimate that Torstar will keep increasing in the next financial year. 5. Appendix Cash Flow Analysis (CDN$000) | 1995| 1996| 1997| operating cash flow| 78. 3| 102. 9| 130. 0| dividends| 30. 9| 35. 1| 40. 3| Capital expenses| 20. 3| 29. 8| 26. 6| free cash flow| 27. 2| 38. 0| 63. 1| Dividends | 1st Q 1997| 2nd Q 1997| 3rd Q 1997| 4th Q 1997| Dividends($000)| 10120| 9965| 10080| 10095| Average shares| 39151| 39107| 39060| 39044| Dividends per share| $0. 26| $0. 26| $0. 26| $0. 26|

Essay on Christianity vs. Greek Mythology - 1309 Words

Throughout many ages religion has been a very important part of history. It shaped many cultures and allowed us to better understand many civilizations. Two of these cultures are those of the Christians and Greeks. Both have similarities and differences in their religious beliefs that have been compared often and I have chosen to discuss the similarities and differences of Christianity and ancient Greek mythology. Christianity is a monotheistic religion, or belief in only one God, and spiritual practices are based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as written in the New Testament of the Bible, with the role of Jesus as savior and the Son of God. Greek mythology is a polytheistic religion, which is the belief in and†¦show more content†¦In Greek mythology, Zeus orders a man named Deucalion to make a chest in which he and his family can survive the flood Zeus was going to bring upon the earth. In the Bible, the account of Christian beliefs, God orders a man named Noah to build an ark in which he and his family, and two of each animal, can survive the destruction from a flood God was going to send. War was also a common characteristic of both the ancient Greek world and of the Biblical world. For example, the Trojan War is a major event in Greek history, and is written about most famously in Homers Iliad. The gods always seemed to play important roles in this war, especially Zeus, Ares the god of war, and the other and goddesses living on Mount Olympus. Wars between Greek city-states were also common, with gods and goddesses almost always involved in them in some way. In similar comparison, the Bible accounts many stories of wars between different countries and religious groups, with God being involved in some way in the outcome or fate of the peoples. One of the most famous examples is the war between the Philistines and the Israelites. In this war, God interfered and sent a small shepherd boy David to save the Israelites. David does so by killing the giant Goliath, a super-human thing he would not have been able to accomplish without Gods help. These examples show t he cross-cultural belief that war was anShow MoreRelatedGreek Mythology Throughout The Ages916 Words   |  4 PagesGreek Mythology throughout the Ages Greek mythology is the culmination of myths and teaching that began in Ancient Greek. These myths are diverse in the stories that they tell ranging from their gods, their heroes and the nature of the world. They also reveal much about their religious beliefs and practices during Ancient Greece. Today modern scholars study these myths in an attempt to better understand the religious and political practices of Ancient Greece and its civilization of way back whenRead MoreOn What Occasions Does Norse Mythology Play an Important Role in Beowulf?964 Words   |  4 PagesOn what occasions does Norse Mythology play an important role in Beowulf? Throughout the story of Beowulf, Norse Mythology has been an important factor of the story’s continuation. While they both have interactions with Christianity, they are both very important. Norse Mythology has existed as early as the 10th century. Just like how Beowulf, and many other epics have been told, Norse mythology was preserved throu gh the tradition of oral preservation. Norse Mythology It is said that there areRead MoreGreek Gods and Goddess875 Words   |  4 PagesThe Greek Gods: Ancient vs. Modern Views According to ancient Greek mythology the Greek gods and goddesses had at one time lived the savage, brutal and ugly life of humans. Eventually, however, they managed to rise above this ancient fierceness to become the nineteen elder gods and goddesses the Greeks knew as The Titans, who ruled the earth in a primordial era before the Olympian gods overthrew them. The ancient Greeks of the first millennium before the Christian era believedRead MoreThe Afterlife Of Ancient Greece1955 Words   |  8 Pages The Afterlife of the Ancient Greeks A Classical-Styled Argument Katie Vokes ENGL17889GD Jennifer Chambers December 12, 2015 The Afterlife of Ancient Greece Where do we go when we die? This is a question that most people—spiritual or not—ask themselves at least once within their lifetime. In reality, this question is likely to never be answered, but is nevertheless an exciting area for study. Every culture, every religion and every individual person has some type of theoryRead MoreClassical Roman Art Vs Early Christian There are many similarities and differences between800 Words   |  4 PagesClassical Roman Art Vs Early Christian There are many similarities and differences between Classical Roman and Early Christian Art. What particularly stands out to me is how much these two cultures have in common when it comes to their art and architecture. Romans were geniuses when it came to engineering and we can see that in the monuments they left behind. Many early Christian architectural styles and ideas were adopted straight from the Romans. Their communities became organized geographicallyRead MoreThe Civil War Of The United States956 Words   |  4 Pagesinfused in the economic culture and in religious culture, not to mention it was also legal by law. Messing with a man s religion his money and his freedom in the south east shore to get you in a sticky situation. At this time in American life Christianity was the main religion. Unlike today where anybody can worship anything a man can even worship the Fonz. Many hipsters today would consider the America during the Civil War to be a very conservative America as far as religion goes. With that beingRead MoreScience Vs. Religion : Harmony Within Discord1539 Words   |  7 PagesScience vs. Religion: Harmony within Discord Sebian Martinez-Escobar UC Mercedâ€Æ' For as long as mankind has had the curiosity to gaze at the stars, we have been constantly questioning our origin and place in the universe. From simple, yet elegant solutions (like our world being on the back of a large tortoise) to the more complex pantheons of gods and heavens, humanity’s dedication to classifying and comprehending our universe has enabled us to weave rich and complex mythologies and beliefs. HoweverRead MoreFate Vs. Free Will2263 Words   |  10 PagesAncient Greek Mythology has one side on fate vs free will. They feel as though you have no ultimate choice and fate will always be your destiny. However, that does not mean everyone follows their destined path until death. In Homer’s The Iliad, fate and destiny as the final outcomes of a person’s life, however, at some points you wonder if a person’s destiny falls directly in the decisions made by someone. Hektor and Achilles both had choices, but ultimately believed they must follow th eir destinyRead MoreHow I Read Literature Like A Professor Notes3177 Words   |  13 Pageslend irony, or to play with readers knowledge of fairytales †¢ When you see something familiar, ask WHY!!! †¢ Common situational archetypes- o Lost, young couple o Crisis not of own making o Temptation o Youth fending for their selves Chapter 9- Greek Mythology †¢ Myths function as material for literary creators, informs a story/poem, and how its perceived by the reader †¢ Biblical myth covers the greatest range of human situations (covering all ages of life) †¢ Ability of story to explain ourselves toRead MoreEarly Christian Art Vs Byzantine Art1831 Words   |  8 PagesChristian Art vs Byzantine Art While similar in subject matter, art of the early Christian era and Byzantine art differ greatly in many different facets. While art of the Byzantine era had no qualms about visually displaying the Christian tradition faith and beliefs, early Christian art masked Christian imagery. Before 313, Christians were being prosecuted throughout the Roman Empire for their faith and belief in God. The Edict of Milan, which was issued by Constantine, legalized Christianity. From that