Governments across the globe are experiencing enormous budget deficits. The governments of South Africa and Australia felt that taxes on mining have not been reflecting a ‘willing buyer-willing seller’ relationship. This in essence means that mining companies in these two countries were not paying an arm’s length value to governments for extracting the resources. In Australia the authorities introduced the Resources Super Profits Tax to be charged at 40% of assessable profits. Mining companies still have to assess how to deal with this new tax when it is enacted on 1 July 2012. However, a change advantageous for the companies is the reduction in the corporate tax rate from 30% to 28% by the 2014/15 tax year. This Resources Super Profits Tax will also be deductible from the calculation of taxable income. South Africa enacted the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty Acton 1 March 2010. Mining companies would now pay royalties based on a charging formula specifically for refined and unrefined minerals. The minimum royalty charging formula is 0.5% of gross sales regardless of whether the mining company incurs losses. This royalty charging formula is capped at 5% for refined minerals and 7% for unrefined minerals. However, any existing arrangement between mining companies and land owners for special royalties payable is not replaced by the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty Act. A mining company such as Kumba Resources Limited never paid royalties in 2009, but were paying royalties in 2010 at 5.61% of accounting earnings before interest and taxes and 5.51% in 2011. Despite the additional royalties mining companies still invest in South Africa. The main drive for investment is managing risks and investing in projects that yield positive net present values. Typical risks to be managed are taxation laws, political uncertainty and social issues. These risks should be kept under control as the likelihood of mining companies walking away from investments is high when these risks spiral out of control. AFRIKAANS : Regerings dwarsoor die wêreld ondervind wesenlike begrotingstekorte. Die regerings van Suid Afrika en Australië glo dat die belasting op mynbou-maatskappye nie die ‘gewillige koper-gewillige verkoper’ verhouding weerspieël nie. In beginsel beteken dit dat die mynbou-maatskappye in die twee lande nie armlengte-waarde betaal aan regerings vir die ontginning van minerale nie. In Australië het owerhede die Minerale Super Winste Belasting gepromulgeer wat 40% heffings van berekende winste vereis. Mynbou-maatskappye is steeds in die donker oor hoe om hierdie nuwe belasting te hanteer wanneer dit op 1 Julie 2012 in werking tree.Die verlaging van die korporatiewe belastingkoers van 30% na 28% oor ’n tydperk tot en met die 2014/15 belastingjaaris egter ’n verandering wat voordelig is vir die maatskappye. Hierdie Minerale Super Winste Belasting sal ook van belasbare inkomste van mynbou-maatskappye aftrekbaar wees. Suid Afrika het die Minerale en Petroleum Reserwes Tantieme Wet op 1 Maart 2010 gepromulgeer. Mynbou-maatskappye sal in die vervolg tantieme betaal wat gebaseer word op ’n heffingsformule spesifiek ontwerp vir verwerkte en onverwerkte minerale. Die minimum tantieme heffingsformule is 0.5% van bruto verkope ongeag of die mynbou-maatskappy verliese ly. Hierdie tantieme heffingsformule word wel beperk tot 5% vir verwerkte minerale en 7% vir onverwerkte minerale. Enige huidige ooreenkoms met grondeienaars vir die betaling van spesiale tantieme word ongelukkig nie oorskryf deur die Minerale en Petroleum Reserwes Tantieme Wet nie. ’n Mynbou-maatskappy soos Kumba Resources Beperk het geen tantieme in 2009 betaal nie. In 2010 was Kumba Resources Beperk se tantieme 5.61% van rekeningkundige wins voor rente en belasting en in 2011 was dit 5.51%. Ondanks hierdie addisionele tantieme belê mynbou-maatskappye steeds in Suid Afrika. Die hoof-dryfveer vir beleggings is die bestuur van risiko en belegging in projekte wat positiewe netto huidige waardes lewer. Tipiese risiko’s wat bestuur moet word, is belastingwette, politieke onsekerheid en sosiale kwessies. Hierdie risiko’s moet te alle tye onder beheer gehou word omrede mynbou- maatskappye heel waarskynlik van beleggings kan onttrek indien die risiko’s buite beheer raak. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Taxation / unrestricted

In the field of sustainable finance, Environmental-, Social- and Governance-ratings (ESG) have become an acknowledged measurement of a firm's sustainability performance. The increased awareness of sustainability issues in today's society is undeniable. However, based upon contradicting results from previous research, it was uncertain if investors were rewarding a firm’s sustainability efforts in the form of a lower cost of equity. The purpose of this thesis has therefore been to examine the relationship between sustainability, risk and valuation as well as stock-price behavior in times of crisis regarding large firms publicly listed in the Nordic countries. In order to fulfil the purpose, various multiple regression models have been conducted on quarterly data from the period between 2011 to 2020. The approach chosen to examine if ESG has a relation to the cost of equity has been to calculate the implied cost of equity inferred from consensus forecasts of future financial development and stock price at each point in time, also known as the ex-ante cost of equity. Since the independent variable ESG-score was not likely to be the sole variable to affect the independent variables in our multivariate regression models, we have followed previous studies in the choice of control variables. The empirical results of this study showed a significantly negative relationship between a firm’s ESG-score and the cost of equity. In addition, our results showed a significantly positive relationship between a firm’s ESG-score and both the price-to-earnings ratio as well as the price-to-book ratio while no significant relationship between a firm’s ESG-score and the enterprise value to earnings before interest and taxes ratio could be established. Finally, the results of this thesis showed that firms with a greater ESG-score generated excess returns during the latest market turmoil of 2020 caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. This thesis challenges the value-destruction view of ESG-efforts since our results indicate that investors are pricing sustainability risk with a negative risk premium in line with the value creation approach. No causality test has been performed during this study, however several possible mechanisms by which ESG impacts the valuation and crisis resistance have been discussed based upon previous research and the theoretical framework. We argue for the reduced cost of equity to reflect diminished information asymmetry, a larger investor base, improved growth and cash-flow opportunities as well as reduced risk for litigations as aconsequence of a more sustainable business conduct. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study on the topic has been conducted on the Nordic markets. This study fills thus a research gap on the relation between sustainability, risk andequity market valuation and we sincerely hope to have contributed to academia with new approaches.

The aim of the submitted thesis „Application of financial analysis in a company“ is to perform financial analysis of a enterprise IMOS Brno, a.s. from 2001 to 2007 and to make suggestions for improvement of company financial position. Results of this master´s thesis will give information for a company management and its decision-making process.

The topic of this Bachelor Thesis is “Which of these valuation methods provides the most accurate valuation forecast”. Assuming that the year is 2020, the goal of this thesis is to forecast the future stock prices of the fifty largest US-based companies on the Nasdaq stock exchange for 2021 and 2022. By using a quantitative method and looking ten years back at historical data. We determine which valuation method provides the most accurate stock price when conducted in a non-sector specific sample by comparing predicted prices to actual stock prices and discussing the results. There are several ways to evaluate a company and the ones being utilized in this thesis are the discounted cash flow valuation method, the price-to-earnings ratio method (equity multiple), and enterprise value to enterprise value before interest, tax, and depreciation (firm multiple). Our results show that when reviewing the valuations of multiple companies in different sectors the relative valuation methods provide better predictions with EV/EBITDA rather than the discounted cash flow method. This thesis provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of these different valuation methods and their effectiveness in providing valuation forecasts. The result of this thesis is beneficial for policymakers, investors, and financial analysts when forecasting future stock prices.