Possessing the knowledge to hedge energy price risks properly is essential and crucial for running a long-term business. In the past, many hedging instruments have been invented and widely used. By using these derivatives, decision makers reduce the price risk to a certain degree. To apply these hedging instruments to the perfect hedging strategies correctly, it is necessary to be familiar with these tools in the first place. This work introduces the financial tools widely applied in hedging, including forward contracts, futures, swaps and options. It also introduces the hedging strategies used on energy hedging. Since individuals are creating strategies according to their unique risk appetite and collected information, this work presents three risk appetites and a method of distinguishing valuable information. With the contribution of this thesis, future works can be done in the field that connect the information valuation and energy hedging by changing the behavior in each risk appetites’ hedging ratio. / text

Background: In an increasingly globalized environment, corporations perform transactions across borders on a day-to-day basis. As multinational corporations expand their businesses the number of currencies in their operations increases. The consequence of operating with several currencies is the risk associated with currency fluctuations. Sandvik AB is a worldwide corporation where activities are conducted through representation in more than 130 countries. Currency exposures are controlled through risk management where financial derivatives are applied to protect the corporation from potential losses caused by fluctuations. Sandvik AB recently implemented a hedging strategy entitled Layered Basket Option hedging. The strategy is a combination of a layered- and a basket option approach to maximize the effect of the hedge. There is a limited amount of previous research regarding Layered Basket Option hedging and Sandvik AB is the first corporation to actively practice this strategy. Purpose: The purpose is to investigate and provide information about how currency risk most effectively is hedged for the multinational corporation Sandvik AB. Furthermore, we want to evaluate if Sandvik’s recently implemented hedging strategy, Layered Basket Option hedging, is the best-suited strategy for them and if there are any improvements to be made. This thesis will further investigate the importance of currency hedging for multinational corporations, which are dependent on reporting to their stakeholders. Hopefully, this thesis will also facilitate the communication of Sandvik’s currency strategies throughout the organization and make it more comprehensible. Method: Exchange rates on daily basis for the period 2002-2012 were collected from Bank of Canada and Reuters database. The collected data was thereafter used as a basis to perform calculations to determine if Layered Basket Option hedging is the optimal solution for Sandvik AB. Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the benefits from applying a Layered Basket Option hedging strategy and the strategy succeeds to reduce the volatility caused by currency fluctuation. The results indicate that the combination of a layered- and a basket option approach successfully creates a suitable strategy for Sandvik AB. Furthermore, this thesis has recognized that there exists room for improvement by actively allocating currencies according to their weights and correlations to fully exploit the effects from the strategy.

The purpose of this study was to profile international level female sevens athletes and determine if anthropometric and physical qualities are able to differentiate between backs and forwards. Twenty-four subjects with a mean (±SD) age of 22.75±3.99 years and body weight of 69.36±5.21kg were sampled from the national team training program. Anthropometric measures (height, body mass and sum of 7 skinfolds) and performance measures (power clean, front squat, bench press, neutral grip pull up, 40m sprint and 1600m run) were collected across the 2013-2014 centralized period and compared across playing position. Thirteen backs (mean age±SD= 21.28±3.54 years) and eleven forwards (mean age±SD= 24.47±3.95 years) had significant differences in body mass (66.40±3.48kg vs. 72.87±4.79kg) and initial sprint momentum (366.81±19.83kg*m/s vs.399.24±22.42*m/s). However no other measures showed positional differences. It is possible that the lack of positional differences in female rugby sevens is due to the multifarious physical requirements of a sevens player, leading to a generic player profile or perhaps due to a lack of selective pressure. It is also possible that the anthropometric and physical qualities measured in this study lacked the necessary resolution or failed to capture the unique attributes of each position. In conclusion, this is the first research profiling international level female sevens athletes. The normative data presented within this paper highlights the physical requirements of female sevens athletes for strength and conditioning practitioners. In addition, the lack of positional differences discovered should impact training program design. / Graduate

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To examine differences in body composition and maximal strength between collegiate (CLG) and men's club (CLB) rugby union players, as well as between the forward (FW) and back (BK) positions, seventeen resistance-trained men (24 ± 2.4 yrs; range: 20 ± 27 yrs; 179.3 ± 5.4 cm; 93.7 ± 12.9kg) from a collegiate rugby team (n=11) and a local men's rugby club (n=6) were recruited to participate in the present investigation. Prior to strength testing, height (± 0.1 cm), body mass (± 0.1 kg), and body composition via dual energy x-ray absorptiometry were assessed to determine total percent body fat (%FAT), lean body mass (LBM), lean arm mass (LAM), and lean leg mass (LLM). Maximal upper- and lower-body strength were determined from each participant's one-repetition maximum (1RM) in the bench press and squat, respectively. Additionally, athletic history, resistance training experience, and distractors (e.g. work, school, and sleep) were determined via questionnaire. Significant (p<0.05) differences were observed between clubs in age (CLG: 22.3 ± 1.3y; CLB: 26.2 ± 1.1y), years played (CLG: 2.9 ± 2.4y; CLB: 7.5 ± 2.1y), and starting experience (CLG: 1.7 ± 2.6y; CLB: 5.2 ± 3.4y). In terms of position, LAM was significantly (p = 0.037) greater in FW (10.6 ± 1.7kg) than in BK (9.0 ± 0.5kg). These findings suggest rugby union players possess similar strength and size characteristics, regardless of age, playing experience, or position.

1 Legal Issues of Derivatives Abstract Derivatives symbolize one of the most successful instruments of international markets in 20. century boosted by ongoing globalization and never-ending technological progress. Though origins of derivatives could had been found in Ancient times, the real "explosion" of derivatives has blown in last two centuries. The essential objective and purpose of the thesis is firstly to analyse the true meaning and definition of the term "derivative" and surrounding legal issues and secondly to provide comprehensive list of basic derivatives according to the historical and financial-economic indicators. My thesis consists of six chapters. First two introductory chapters deal with the general aspects of derivatives, such as definition and legal nature. Derivatives, generally speaking, are legal contracts between market participants allowing contracting parties to transfer risks connected with particular underlying to another party or speculate on market movements in order to gain profits. Derivatives are traded in both, standardized and OTC markets, which embodied them with ultimate flexibility and range. Assessing true legal nature of derivatives stands for one of the main issues concerned by academics and practitioners, in particular whether derivatives fall under the category of...

1 Abstract This thesis is focused on the financial derivatives. The main goal of this paper is to analyse legal nature of financial derivatives and to present universal definition, general characteristics or utilization of financial derivatives. The other goal of this paper is to describe the development of supervision and regulation before and after The Global Financial Crisis. The thesis is composed of three main chapters. Chapter One is focused on a definition of the financial derivatives as well as the development of derivatives in the fields of history. Chapter Two is dedicated to brief description and explanation of important derivatives types such as forwards, futures, swaps, options and credit derivatives. Chapter Three of this thesis deals with the problems of supervision and regulation of financial derivatives based on American and European law. In response to the causes and effects of The Global Financial Crisis the regulation increased. There were introduced new regulatory legislations which require for example deep transparency of OTC derivatives or settlement of OTC trades through a central counterparty. Key words: financial derivatives, forwards, futures, swaps, options, regulation

This diploma thesis deals with hedging with financial derivatives in international business. It is divided into two main parts. The first - theoretical part describes the general definition of the term "derivative" as well as brief history of derivatives. The next part determines derivatives from three key aspects - economic, legal and accounting. The following part deals with statistical methods and the current situation on the derivative markets. The following chapter analyzes the main types of derivatives - forwards, futures, swaps and options as well as examples of their usage. The second part of this work examines the hedging process within the company Med Povrly. Due to its involvement in the international trade with copper, the company is exposed to commodity and exchange-rate risks.

The world is getting more and more globalized and more countries choose to make business abroad today compared to only ten years ago. To establish abroad involves a lot of risks for a company and one important risk a company need to pay attention to is thecurrency risk. A corporation can be exposed to different kinds of currency risks and there is a lot of derivates to use when hedging against those risks. Which strategy or method a company uses is regulated in its financial policy, which constitutes an important part in the work against currency exposure. The main purpose of this dissertation is to investigate which currency hedging methods and derivates Swedish export companies are using when trading on the international market. Another part of the purpose is to explore if there is a difference between large and small companies when it comes to currency hedging and if there is, why there is a difference. To get the answers of the purpose a qualitative study were used and three intervjues with three companies of different sizes in the energy industry were made. The study also included one interview with an expert in the area of currency hedging. Together with theory and earlier studies the dissertation came to a conclusion. The conclusion of this study was that companies are using different derivates to protect themselves against currency risks and there is a difference between small and large companies in the hedging, mainly in the number of different derivates. Another conclusion that can be drawn was that warrants and futures is the most common derivates among swedish export companies which also is supported by theory and earlier studies. / Världen blir allt mer globaliserad och fler och fler länder väljer att röra sig utanför de nationella gränserna och göra affärer internationellt. Att etablera sig utomlands innebär många risker för ett företag och en viktig risk ett företag måste beakta vid handel internationellt är valutarisken. Ett företag kan bli exponerade mot olika typer av valutarisker och det finns flera instrument att använda sig av för att skydda sig mot dessa. Vilken metod ett företag använder sig av finns reglerat i företagens finanspolicy, vilken utgör en viktig del i arbetet mot valutaexponering. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka valutasäkringsmetoder och instrument svenska exportföretag använder sig av vidinternationell handel för att säkra sig mot valutarisker, samt undersöka om det skiljer sig i hur företag av olika storlek hanterar dessa risker. För att besvara vår frågeställning genomfördes forskningen genom en kvalitativ studie där tre stycken energiföretaget av olika storlek intervjuades. I studien intervjuades även en expert inom området och genom en jämförelse av empirin samt tidigare forskning kunde det dras en slutsats. Undersökningens slutsats var att företagen använder sig av flera olika metoder och instrument vid hanteringen av valutarisker. Den typ avvalutarisk de främst är utsatta för är transaktionsexponeringar på samtliga företag. Studien visade också att det skiljde sig i hur företagen av olika storlek hanterar dessa risker, främst i form av antalet instrument företagen använde sig av. En annan slutsats som kunde göras med en jämförelse av tidigare teori är att swappar och terminer är vanliga instrument medan optioner är ett mindre använt instrument för företag vid valutasäkring.

Syfte: Hantering av valutarisker i ett exporterande företag kan vara avgörande för att nå framgång. Syftet är att undersöka hur valutariskexponering uppstår samt att se hur valutarisk hanteras i två exporterande företag. Uppsatsen behandlar ett stort multinationellt företag och ett mindre företag. Studien jämför olika förhållningssätt i de två företagen samt hur extern respektive intern hantering av riskerna kan skilja sig. Metod: I studien har en kvalitativ ansats tillämpats genom intervjuer med representativa befattningshavare i de båda företagen. Intervjuerna utgår från ett hermeneutiskt synsätt som sedan också till stor del är genomgående i uppsatsen. Förutom intervjuer så har trovärdig sekundärdata använts i förekommande fall.  Resultat &amp; slutsats: Möjlighet till intern hantering av valutarisker skiljer sig mellan stora och små företag. Sandvik har stora resurser för att kunna hantera valutarisker internt samtidigt som CardGroup har mindre resurser och kunskaper för detta. Företagens förhållningssätt till risk skiljer sig men skillnaden beror inte på storleken utan snarare synen på hur affärer görs. Företagens externa metoder för valutariskhantering är snarlika då samma derivatinstrument används, med undantag för hur företagen tillämpar dem genom olika metoder. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: En intressant ansats för vidare studier skulle vara att använda en kvantitativ metod för forskning inom området för att kunna dra mer allmänna slutsatser. Fokus för fortsatta studier kan även vara att utgå från ekonomisk eller omräkningsexponering. Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen har bidragit till ökad kunskap om vilka metoder och instrument exporterande företag använder och varför. Dessutom har studien belyst hur arbetet kan skilja sig mellan ett stort och ett litet företag. / Aim: Currency risk management can be crucial to reach success in an international environment. The aim of this thesis is to examine currency exposure in exporting companies and to see how they handle currency risk. The thesis consists of one large multinational company and one small local business. Differences in risk approach, internal and external management are examined. Method: The study has a qualitative approach applied by interviews with representative employees in both companies. A hermeneutic approach is used for the interviews and then also to a large extent throughout the essay. In addition to interviews, reliable secondary data where used when appropriate. Result &amp; Conclusions: Internal currency risk management is different depending on the company’s size. Sandvik have great resources in managing currency risk internally while CardGroup have less knowledge and resources to do so. The companies approach to risk is different but the difference is not due to size but rather the perception of how business is done. The external methods of managing currency risk are similar between the companies. The same derivatives are used with exception for how the companies apply them through various methods. Suggestions for future research: An interesting approach for further studies in this field of finance would be to use a quantitative approach to receive general conclusions. Operating and translation exposure can also be focus for future studies. Contribution of the thesis: The thesis has contributed to increased knowledge of which instruments companies use and why companies apply certain methods. In addition the essay examines how this differs between a large and a small company.