Correlated ordinal data typically arises from multiple measurements on a collection of subjects. Motivated by an application in credit risk, where multiple credit rating agencies assess the creditworthiness of a firm on an ordinal scale, we consider multivariate ordinal regression models with a latent variable specification and correlated error terms. Two different link functions are employed, by assuming a multivariate normal and a multivariate logistic distribution for the latent variables underlying the ordinal outcomes. Composite likelihood methods, more specifically the pairwise and tripletwise likelihood approach, are applied for estimating the model parameters. Using simulated data sets with varying number of subjects, we investigate the performance of the pairwise likelihood estimates and find them to be robust for both link functions and reasonable sample size. The empirical application consists of an analysis of corporate credit ratings from the big three credit rating agencies (Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch). Firm-level and stock price data for publicly traded US firms as well as an unbalanced panel of issuer credit ratings are collected and analyzed to illustrate the proposed framework.

This thesis deals with systems of financial indicators. The theoretical part contains the individual systems which are described and explained on the basis of literature. The practical part is divide into three parts. First part contains individual analyses of indicators. The second part deals with a pyramid decomposition of return on equity which is compared in time and space. The last part is the practical application of the rating and default models to the selected firm. There are summarized and evaluated results of the practical part in conclusion.

Correlated ordinal data typically arise from multiple measurements on a collection of subjects. Motivated by an application in credit risk, where multiple credit rating agencies assess the creditworthiness of a firm on an ordinal scale, we consider multivariate ordinal models with a latent variable specification and correlated error terms. Two different link functions are employed, by assuming a multivariate normal and a multivariate logistic distribution for the latent variables underlying the ordinal outcomes. Composite likelihood methods, more specifically the pairwise and tripletwise likelihood approach, are applied for estimating the model parameters. We investigate how sensitive the pairwise likelihood estimates are to the number of subjects and to the presence of observations missing completely at random, and find that these estimates are robust for both link functions and reasonable sample size. The empirical application consists of an analysis of corporate credit ratings from the big three credit rating agencies (Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch). Firm-level and stock price data for publicly traded US companies as well as an incomplete panel of issuer credit ratings are collected and analyzed to illustrate the proposed framework. / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

The diploma thesis focuses on finding ways to increase the performance of a selected manufacturing company by the use of benchmarking. The thesis applies theoretical knowledge from literature to the practical level by using analyses. Based on these analyses there are made proposals that contribute to the increase of a business performance.

Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) play a key role in financial markets by helping to reduce informative asymmetry between lenders and investors, on one side, and issuers on the other side, with regard to the creditworthiness of banks or countries. This crucial role has expanded alongside financial globalisation and received an additional boost from Basel II which integrates the ratings of CRAs into the rules for setting weights for credit risk. Ratings adjustment tends to be sticky, lagging behind markets, and often overreact when they do change. This overreaction may have aggravated the recent financial crises, contributing to financial instability and cross-country contagion. Criticism has been especially directed towards the high degree of concentration of the ratings industry. Promotion of competition may require policy action at the international level to encourage the establishment of new agencies and to discover alternative rules or regulatory requirements in order to achieve promising results. The recent growth of Middle Eastern and North African countries (MENA) and their commercial banking system has increased the need of paying widespread attention to this region of the world. This thesis crucially identifies, and estimates, the robust determinants of credit ratings for MENA countries and their commercial banks, incorporating a set of bank level accounting and financial risk factors, as well as country-specific characteristics, including indicators for regulatory, supervision, legal and economic environments. The research contributes, firstly, to the theoretical literature on credit ratings industry by reviewing extant methodologies specifically as they apply to banks and sovereign countries. Secondly, it conducts a systematic, cross-country empirical investigation using panel data econometric methodology for the purpose of estimating MENA countries sovereign and bank credit rating models. Thirdly, it provides tangible and statistically significant evidence on the different factors that determines the estimation of credit ratings and influencing bank's risk. The extant literature reviewed serves as a basis to achieve and develop the research aim, objectives and hypotheses of the thesis. The research then constructs an appropriate panel dataset from different sources, containing bank-level and country-level information for a sample of 108 commercial banks covering 13 MENA countries over the period 2000 - 2012. The methodological framework for estimating credit rating models (linear regression, logit and probit) is also reviewed and the procedures for panel data estimation are implemented using the econometric package STATA (version 13). All relevant data are drawn from public sources including Reuters, Bankscope, IMF and the World Bank. Using the random effects ordered probit and logit methodologies to estimate both sovereign (country) and bank level credit ratings models for the MENA countries, the evidence shows that real GDP growth, capital requirements, restrictions on banking activities and control of corruption all contribute negatively to the sovereign ratings. Furthermore, internal management and organisational requirements is considered as an additional regulatory factor not studied in previous research. The statistically significant and inverse relationship of the latter is considered an important and interesting outcome of MENA countries’ sovereign ratings. On the other hand, GDP per capita, investment (as a percentage of GDP), political stability, government effectiveness and the rule of law all reveal significant and positive impact on the sovereign credit ratings. In general, this research finds that improved macroeconomic conditions are correlated with higher ratings, while greater reserve regulations are correlated with lower ratings. The study also does find the significance of governance and regulatory variables plays a key role into the final credit rating. With regard to the impact on banks’ ratings, the results show that higher return on average assets and equity, larger bank size, more restrictions on bank activities, as well as higher official disciplinary power and higher standards of internal management, will yield higher credit ratings. Apart from having direct and positive impact on banks credit ratings, these variables are important for examining the risk-sharing incentives in MENA countries’ banks. In contrast, the estimation results indicate that net interest margin, net loans to deposits, liquid assets to deposits, capital requirements, deposit insurance scheme, liquidity requirements, unemployment rate and government effectiveness have an inverse and negative impact on banks ratings. In general, this study also finds various financial, macroeconomic, and regulatory effects on banks’ credit ratings. To a much lesser extent than government ratings, various macroeconomic variables also helped predict banks’ ratings, including real GDP growth and the unemployment rate. The thesis concludes by arguing that the combined use of financial and non-financial factors for estimating credit ratings models supports the relevant hypotheses examined and adds value to all stakeholders in improving and obtaining a better quality of credit ratings. This study also demonstrates that a diversity of bank-level and country-level factors influence the MENA sovereign and bank ratings differently, implying that policy makers, regulators alongside rating agencies should distinguish the different environmental factors between nations before any judgment and issuance can be model of the ratings. To conclude, there is no study which exclusively investigates credit rating models for the MENA region exploiting the richness of the data and methodology employed, and the current research aims to fill this gap.

This diploma thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with all of the important components of a financial and strategic analysis. There is also text containing the formulas essential for the financial analysis to be found. The practical part of this thesis relates to the preparation of The Czech Granite company  LLC analyses. First, the observed company introduction is included, followed by the financial analysis itself. This contains the processing and evaluation of the financial ratios. All of its parts are analyzed in detail and commented on. Afterwards, the results are compared with the main business rival of the given branch. The conclusion of this work is complemented by a strategic analysis. The result of which, found on the basis of the market attractiveness and the company competitive position analyses outcome, is an evaluation of the company's future prospects. This part also concentrates on drawing up a SWOT analysis . The financial and strategic analysis is drawn up for the period between the years 2011 to 2015. All the information is gathered from the available public sources.

This thesis aimed to examine methods used to evaluate multinational and diversified firms and then use these methods to study the Philips Group and its decision to spin-off of the Philips Lighting sector. Although numerous methods and parameters used to analyze firms already exist, they remain very limited for multinational and diversified firms such as Philips Group or General Electric. In this thesis, hypotheses were based on the theory of the firm and tested using analysis of leverage, profitability and efficiency ratios. This study shows the difficulty of analysing multinational diversified firms caused by a very limited availability of data set. Thus, despite of a great number of ratios described in the literature, only a small portion can be in fact computed using publicly available data. Hypotheses were based on the the paper developed by Chen and Guo (2005). First hypothesis, based on the analysis of capital constraint was attempted, secondly the pace and directions of individual sectors were analysed using profitability and efficiency ratios and thirdly the stock performance was observed. All of this in order to examine whether the motive of the split was to increase the stock prices. It was found that Philips Group nor its Lighting sector did not experience capital constraints, nevertheless an important degree of underperformance amidst analysed figures was found, which suggested that Philips Lighting division was not as good in creating value for shareholders as the HealthTech division was. Moreover, the decision of Philips Group to concentrate on its HealthTech business was positively accepted on stock markets confirming the third hypothesis.

The diploma thesis evaluates the financial health of the company CB Auto a.s., by using the methods of financial analysis. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the financial health with regard to the expansion of the portfolio of the company to open a new department OJETÉ VOZY Das Welt Auto Škoda Plus v Českých Budějovicích in 2013. The financial analysis is applied to period from 2010 to 2014. The thesis is divided into two parts, theoretical and application part. The basic terms from the financial analysis field are summarized in the theoretical part. This part also describes particular methods. These methods are applied in application part. Based on the results of this analysis the overall financial health is evaluated. Then there is introduced the proposal for improving the situation of the company in future.

The subject of this diploma thesis on topic "Economic analysis of the chosen company" is the assessment of the economic performance of MOIRA CZ, a.s. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the situation assess with respect to its financial health, economic performance and future viability. The first part of my thesis is devoted to approaches to economic analysis and its methods, in the second part is analysed the economic situation of the chosen company. The starting point for practical part are financial statements and their analysis using horizontal and vertical analysis, analysis of relative and financial ratios, or creditworthy and bankruptcy models. Further the DuPont analysis and analysis of he Economic Value Added (EVA) are applied. In conclusion are summarized the results of economic analysis and set out proposals for action that could lead to increased economic performance of the company.

The diploma, Business plan, is aimed on formulating a business plan to establish a restaurant in Humpolec which offers dishes from healthy nutrition area. The theoretical-methodological part describes the business plan based on literature overview. The application part is focused on elaborating the specific business plan which includes micro and macro analysis, financial analysis completed by liquidity and profitability ratios. In the end I come to the conclusion whether my business plan is realistic and profitable or non profitable.