Critically assess the value, to a shareholder, of the information in Essay

Critically assess the value, to a shareholder, of the information in the Finacial Statement - Essay Example As of 2014, M&S owns 798 stores in UK, 455 stores in 54 international territories in Asia, Middle East and Europe and offers direct employment to more than 85,813 employees both in UK, and in stores located around the world. Despite recent economic recession and due to intricate market scenarios, M&S is still able to maintain steady sales growth in the recent past years. Thus, despite the difficult market situation, M&S is able to maintain a stable sales growth, mainly due to its strong business concept, which centers on its sustainability, innovation and quality policies. Although the products offered by M&S are somewhat costlier than those of its competitors and in the customary supermarket scenario, M&S is still able to attract a sizeable number of customers towards its brands. M&S is concentrating on the global market, particularly in the developing economies such as India and China, and this strategy helps to improve its international sales revenues as evidenced by the following graphs: M&S offers clothing under its own brands and M&S Simply Food shops are operated as supermarket chains. These retail chains offer a distinct , assorted variety of specialty products under M&S own brands. Financial statements published by a company are evaluated both internally by the management and externally by the creditors, investors and regulatory agencies. Management’s evaluation of company’s financial statements chiefly pertains to the functioning of various sections of the company. For decision-making purposes, these financial statements offer unique financial information and specific reports to the top management of the company. External users use these financial statements to make a decision about whether to invest in the company or not. The analysis of financial statements includes the application and analysis of various techniques and tools to extract useful investment decision from