Business & Personal Finance

New Business Database - Research Monitor

Are you looking for consumer market reports in Canada?  Research Monitor, a new database available at the Toronto Public Library website, may be able to help.

 

Research Monitor includes consumer reports in Canada, the United States, and Mexico for 200 industry categories such as health and wellness, packaged foods, toys and games, apparel, and much more.  Reports identify important headlines, market trends, the top players within an industry and five-year forecasts.  They are updated annually.

 

Reports can be translated into ten different languages.  They can also be exported into Word, Excel or PowerPoint for use in a report or a presentation.

An active Toronto Public Library card is required for remote access.

 

Attention All Shoppers! Black Friday is almost Here!

For those who enjoy finding a good bargain in a store, Black Friday is almost here; i.e. November 23, 2012. 

Stores in the United States offer bargains to shoppers on the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.  Hopefully, brisk sales will continue throughout the winter holiday season.

Consequently, Black Friday is so named because "it's said that's when retailers go into the black and start making money for the year," according to a CBC News article entitled Black Friday bargains spread north of the border.

To quell cross border shopping, Canadian retailers have started to participate in Black Friday by offering their own deals.

To find out information on how well the Canadian retail industry is doing or on cross border shopping, you may want to consult the following free online reports and/or resources:

Industry Canada.  Canadian Industry Statistics : Retail Trade
http://www.ic.gc.ca/cis-sic/cis-sic.nsf/IDE/cis-sic44-45defe.html
Visit this web page to gain insight into the industry's performance.  On the left side, there are links to informaion on Definition, Establishments, SME Benchmarking, Retail Revenues and Expenses, GDP, Labour Productivity, Capital Investment, Other Information, and Company Directories.

Industry Canada.  Information by Industrial Category : Service Industries : Retail Trade
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/retra-comde.nsf/eng/Home
Visit this web page to find in-depth, industry-specific analysis and information.  On the left side, there are links to Environmental Topics, Industry Profile, and Related Sites.   The Industry Profile page links to the State of Retail : The Canadian Report 2010.

Statistics Canada. Retail Trade. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 63-005-XWE. http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=63-005-XWE. Monthly.
This publication presents retail sales estimates for all retail locations in Canada, by trade group and by province/territory. It includes data analysis, definitions, methodology, data reliability and a bibliography.

Statistics Canada.  Annual Retail Trade.  Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 63-270-XWE.
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=63-270-X&lang=eng. Annual.
This annual publication provides information on some characteristics such as operating revenues, operating expenses, operating profits and gross margins for retail trade.

For recent articles on the Canadian retail industry or on the topic of cross border shopping, try the following resources:  

CBCA Complete (Canadian Business and Current Affairs)
(Note: an active Toronto Public Library library card is required to access at the Toronto Public Library website)
Recommended subject searches:  Cross border transactions, Retail stores, and/or Shopping.

Monday Report on Retailers  (Periodical located at the Toronto Reference Library)
For 35+ years, the Monday Report on Retailers has been a weekly source of news on the expansion plans of retailers across Canada.  The Business, Science & Technology Department at the Toronto Reference Library has a current subscription.  Ask at the BST Information Desk on the 3rd floor for assistance.

Roy, Francine. 2007. “Cross-border Shopping and the Loonie: Not What It Used To Be.” Canadian Economic Observer.  Vol. 20, no. 12. December. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 11-010-XIB.  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-010-x/01207/10464-eng.htm (accessed November 21, 2012).

For current Canadian industry reports from databases at the Toronto Public Library website, the following resource is recommended :  (Note: an active Toronto Public Library library card is required to access)

Financial Post (FP) Advisor
On left side, click on Industry Reports > Retailing
Provides in-depth analysis of the Retailing Industry in which the top publicly traded Canadian companies compete.  Latest quarterly results and industry data are available.

For current U.S. industry reports from databases at the Toronto Public Library website, try the following resources:  (Note: an active Toronto Public Library library card is required to access)

Business and Company Resource Center (now Business Insights: Essentials)
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/databases/
On the top menu, click on Industries and then type the following term in the search box: Stores. A list of results will appear.  For example:  Department Stores (except Discount Department Stores) : Industry Profile, Gale Business Insights Online Collection, 2012.  After clicking on a report, there are links to Market Share Reports and Rankings.

Value Line Investment Center
http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/databases/
On the left side under Investment Survey Plus, click on Lookup Industry.  Industry Reports consist of 1-2 pages.  In this example, select Retail Store. 

 Ask at the Business, Science & Technology Department, Toronto Reference Library or the Business Department at North York Central Library for information on additional assistance or advice on other available resources.

Thinking of investing in an IPO? It pays to do your homework.

The recent publicity over Facebook's initial public offering (IPO), and its uneven performance post IPO, makes one wonder how does one evaluate an IPO objectively?  Many people, despite analysts predictions about the value of the stock being over priced, took the leap and invested. One of the keys to smart investing is doing your homework.  And while many technology or new companies don't have a long financial track record to go on, there are still many sources that you can consult to garner information about a company about to go public.   And many are available with the use of your library card.  Listed below are just a few of the great resources TPL subscribes to.

 

For companies trading on United States exchanges, or who are considering going public, Mergent offers a wealth of information, including annual reports, industry analysis, and EDGAR filings.  An at a glance profile of companies will give you key financials, executives, and a spreadsheet of competitors with relevant financials for comparison with the company who you are looking at. Available remotely from TPL website with a library card and in library.  

 

The venerable Business and Company Resource Center offers a snap shot of a company, as well as tabs on recent articles on the company broken down by topic, a history of the company, industry overview, rankings, as well as analyst house investment reports.  This database is international in scope of the companies covered.  Available remotely from TPL website with a library card and in library.

 

The Value Line service has been around since the 1930s and is one of the most trusted and asked for stock guides that TPL subscribes to.  This source gives a concise, one page overview of a company, including historic stock tracking, analysts views, analysis of specific industries, as well as newsletters.  Available remotely from TPL website with a library card and in library. 

 

FP Advisor, a product of the Financial Post, offers a wealth of information on Canadian companies, including historic information, key personnel and financials, new issues and supplemental databases that include Crosbie Mergers & Acquisitions in Canada, Equifax Commercial Law Record, and ProFile Canada. Available remotely from TPL website with a library card and in library.

 

 Sedar provides access to public documents for companies across Canada.  Maintained by the Canadian Securities Administrators,  this website contains documents filed since 1997.  It includes profiles of public companies as well as Investment Fund Groups.  One can browse or search by the name of the company.  Freely available on the internet.

 

A source for a list of Ontario based companies IPOs is the OSC Bulletin.  This periodical, published weekly by the Ontario Securities Commission, holds a wealth of information on company filings.  Each issue has a chapter (Chapter 11 to be precise) that contains a handy list of IPOs, New Issues and Secondary Financings.  Copies are available in the Business Department at North York Central Library and in the Business, Science and Technology Department at the Toronto Reference Library.

Check these out and become a savvy investor. 

 

Finding Company Histories at UWO's Web Site

Johnston Library's staff at the University of Western Ontario have developed a very useful and impressive web page on Books About Companies.  It includes links to:

1.
Business and History at Western:  A Guide to Selected Resources in the UWO Library System (1992).
This bibliography is designed to direct the reader to the considerable resources in the University of Western Ontario Library System that are related to Business History generally and the histories of companies specifically.  If there is a title of interest, check the Toronto Public Library catalogue to determine if it is available in the TPL system.  If not, go to a local library branch and request an Interlibary Loan for the desired item.

2.
Alphabetical List of Related Companies
After 1992, more company-related books were discovered at UWO and many more were published.   A lengthy list of company histories is available by scrolling to the bottom of the Books About Companies web page.  Company histories that are often found in reference works or in books about industries are included.

In addition to printed company histories, annotations in the lists may include reviews of the books and short bibliographies, links to articles that have been scanned by staff in UWO's Business Library, and obituaries of individuals who were important in relation to a company.  Most of the obituaries are for Canadian business persons.

For example, under the heading Alphabetical List of Related Companies, click on:

A and go to the entry for Arnold Brothers, a Toronto company.  There is a link to a full-text article about this company.

H and go to the entry for Harris Steel Group.  There is a notice for Milton Harris, the company's founder with a reference to a thorough obituary.

3.
Basic Indexes

Johnston Library's staff have also created some basic indexes.  They are:

3a.
Index by Industry
Choose an industry and see what related company historical information has been found.

3b.
Company and Industry
See what industry a company is associated with.

3c.
Canadian Company Index
Companies which are seen to have, or have had, a significant Canadian connection.

There are also links to:

4.
Company Historical Profiles from the Canadian Register of Commerce and Industry (1959)
This title included profiles of several hundred Canadian commercial and industrial companies.  Some of the profiles were scanned and were added to the alphabethical lists of company histories produced by UWO's Business Library.  A print copy of the Canadian Register of Commerce and Industry is available at the Toronto Reference Library. 

5.
Company Historical Profiles from Industrial Canada (1967)
In May 1967, the Canadian Manufacturers' Association published a special centennial issue of the periodical Industrial Canada.  The issue included 100+ profiles of Canadian companies that were over 100 years old.  These profiles were scanned and can be found in the alphabetical lists of company histories produced by UWO's Business Library.  A print copy of the special issue is also available at the Toronto Reference Library.

It is noted "none of these lists or indexes are exhaustive and we are sure we have missed some companies". But, this web page does provide excellent tools and references for those interested in finding company histories; especially Canadian company histories.

 

Finding Business Biographies

Are you are going to a job interview or investing in a company? 

If so, you may want to find a biography on a specific company director or executive.  The Toronto Public Library has a number of business databases that may help you in your seach.  They are:

Financial Post (FP) Advisor

• To start a search, click on Directory of Directors on the left side of the home page.
• There is information on over 29,000+ directors and executives of Canadian companies.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

• On the left side of the home page, click on the heading Business.
• Click on the title International Directory of Business Biographies. 4v. 2005. 
• This title examines the career paths, business achievements, leadership styles, business strategies and industry impact of Fortune 500 and Global 500 corporate leaders, as well as entrepreneurs and other notable businesspeople through in-depth biographical narratives.

Mergent Online

• Company Profiles include an Executive tab. 
• Individual executive profiles are available for download or printer friendly format.  Photos are included.

These TPL databases are available via remote access.  An active Toronto Public Library card is required in order to access.

 

 

 

 

Finding Company Histories

Some companies are so successful that they are able to celebrate a long and prosperous history. 

For example, Tiffany & Co. is one of those companies.  The jeweller is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year.  Charles Lewis Tiffany, the company's founder, founded the store in 1837.

Many companies with such an illustrious past sometimes have a web page dedicated to its history at their web site.  If such a web page does not exist for a company that you are interested in, here is a list of Toronto Public Library's electronic resources that may be able to help you find a company history: 

Business & Company Resource Center

• If you do a Company Search, select the desired company from the Results List.
• In the selected company's profile, click on the Histories tab.
• Two sources may be available for your selected company; i.e. Notable Corporate Chronologies and/or International DIrectory of Company Histories.

Financial Post (FP) Advisor

• Historical reports are available for the top currently and formerly traded Canadian companies. 
• These reports include detailed descriptions on operations, 7-year consolidated financial statements, capital stock changes, and company history dating back to incorporation.

Mergent Online

• Company profiles include a History tab.

These TPL databases are available via remote access.  An active Toronto Public Library card is required in order to access.

For those interested in a history of Tiffany & Co., search the Toronto Public Library catalogue with the subject heading Tiffany and Company - History.

Value Line now available on-line at select TPL branches.

If you are investing in the stock market, now more than ever, doing your research can result in either making a bundle or losing the same.  The two major business departments of the Toronto Public Library system, located at North York Central Library and the Toronto Reference Library, have always offered a variety of investment newsletters to assist individual investors in their research.  Value Line has been one of the most popular resources over the years.  And now it is available in electronic format, in house, at both of these branches.

If you aren't familiar with this source, you should become acquainted.   First a bit about Value Line from the company itself.  "Arnold Bernhard founded Value Line in 1931 and built it into one of the nation’s largest independent investment advisory services as well as a major money management institution. He was known as the "Dean of Wall Street" by many in the investment community because of his keen analytical acumen and the number of security analysts he trained."

The Value Line service as it appears today, was started 32 years ago.  Reports for companies traded on major exchanges are set up as "one stop shopping" for information about a company and include analysis and rankings from Value Line staff. 

Statistical data includes graphing of stock over the past 10-13 years, growth rates, quarterly sales and earnings, statistical milestones, including long term trends.  A brief description of the company is given as well as analysts commentary on the company's recent developments and future prospects.  The on-line version includes industry analysis as well. 

Stop by either business department and have a look at this exceptional resource.  While you are in the library, why not check out some of the other investment newsletters each subscribe to.

 

 

MERX: The Magic Word for Doing Business With The Canadian Public Sector

Could there possibly exist a website that would list government tenders (federal, provincial and municipal) by date of issue and industry category? Where tenders could be narrowed down to just those that pertain to a particular geographic area? That would give all the details of each tender?

Yes, such a website does exist! MERX, the Government of Canada's electronic tendering service, will do all this and more.

Here's some information from their website:

"MERX is the most complete source of

• Canadian public tenders
• Private tenders
• U.S. tenders
• Private-sector construction news

available in Canada. MERX has levelled the playing field so that businesses of any size can have easy and affordable access to billions of dollars in contracting opportunities with the Government of Canada (GC), participating provincial and municipal governments, the U.S. Government, state and local governments, and the private sector."

Much of the site can be accessed for free, as the Government of Canada does not charge fees for basic access to its tenders. Other parts of the site are available for a small charge. 

MERX does not list all government tenders, however. How does MERX fit into the overall procurement process of the Canadian Government? Here is an excerpt from the The Government Electronic Tendering Service (GETS) web page of the Contracts Canada website. It explains:

"GETS is an on-line system that advertises government contracting opportunities to potential bidders. GETS is operated by Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. as MERX which provides the service to the federal government under contract.

Departments must use MERX for requirements subject to any of the trade agreements. Some are using it as well for other purchases. PWGSC also uses MERX to advertise requirements for printing services estimated at $10,000 or above, most goods and services estimated at $25,000 or above. It advertises requirements estimated at $100,000 or above for construction and leasing. It also advertises requirements estimated at $76,600 or above for architectural and engineering consulting and services related to real property.

More and more of the Government of Canada's requirements are advertised on MERX annually."

For more information, check out How the Government Buys Goods and Services.

 

Guide To Finance, Investment and Economic Periodicals

Suggested Titles

Financial Market Trends (online version)
International Journal of Government Auditing (online version)
Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine (online version)
MoneySense (online version)
SmartMoney (print version)
Business Week (online version)
Canadian Business (online version)
The Economist (online version)
Barron's (online version)
The Canadian Money Saver (print version)
The Financial Post (online version)
Financial Post Business
Financial Times
Money
The MoneyLetter (print version)
 
Business Article Databases

Business and Company Resource Center
Canadian Business and Current Affairs
Canadian Directory to Foundations and Corporations (only available in any library)
CorpTech (only available at the Toronto Reference Library or North York Central Library)
Financial Post Online
MarketLine (only available at the Toronto Reference Library or North York Central Library)
Mergent Online
SmallbizXpress
ViewsWire Global (The Economist)

MarketLine - Research Database

 

MarketLine offers a collection of company, industry and country information, extending across 200+countries and every major industry vertical. This market intelligence research resource is designed to enable users to build an understanding of markets and the factors that influence their development. It offers in-depth professional research and analysis in easy-to-digest formats, including interactive reports and databases.

• Provides current market research information such as industry profiles offering standardized market data (including size & segmentation) and competitive analysis, company profiles for over 10,000 public and private companies, plus 60 premium and 155 standard country profiles.
• There are approximately 1,800 Canadian companies listed.
• Includes over 2,500 market research reports on key industrial and consumer sectors across the world’s leading economies.  Includes 5 years historical and 5 year forecast market values and/or volumes.
• Includes SWOT analyses for the most important companies in each industry sector.
• Has live feed of relevant news, comment and analysis of current business issues, including merger and acquisition activity, product launches, and regulatory changes.

CONTENT TIPS

Industries

• Industry Reports draw on extensive primary and secondary research, all aggregated, analyzed, crosschecked and presented in a consistent format.  They include:
• • 5 year historical and 5 year forecast market values and/or volumes
  • market segmentations
  • company and / or product market shares
  • explanatory text identifying major trends and significant growth points
  • analysis of each market's competitive landscape, including main players
  • distribution channels and regulatory issues
• Industries – Consumer Markets Database
  This  database provides comprehensive data across global food, drinks and personal care markets.  The database is designed to offer a complete source of data to support market and business planning, marketing and research functions across consumer sectors. The database provides market size, segmentation, consumption, share and distribution channel data covering 55 countries and over 150 product categories, including five-year forecasts of market and category performance.

Companies

• Company Profilescoverage includes the most important global companies on a number of parameters. Companies are prioritized for inclusion where they are constituents of major stock indices, MarketLine industry rankings, or are covered by the major investment banks and financial community.
  Each profile includes:
• • company overviews
  • business descriptions
  • company history
  • executive and product listings
  • locations
  • subsidiaries
  • key competitors
• Companies – Financial Deals Database contains over 100,000 deal records, with five years of historical information supported by 3,000+ live deals of over $5 million in value tracked each month.  Each financial deal record provides:
  • Key deal facts
  • Details of companies involved
  • Deal timeframe and rationale
  • Target company financials
  • Advisor information
  • Investment firm details
  
  
  The database covers all major financial deals, regardless of industry or geography. In addition, the database will also comprehensively track lower value deals in the following industries:
  
  • Automotive and Logistics
  • Consumer
  • Energy
  • Financial Services
  • Healthcare
  • Retail
  • Technology

Countries

• Country Profiles include political analysis such as election details, policies and external relations; economic analysis such as trading partners, key issues; & key macroeconomic data such as GDP, inflation, unemployment, and stock exchange performance.
• Countries – Base Drivers Database
  Use this database to create your own reports, comparing macro-economic, socio-economic, and demographic data.
  Choose from:
• • Country Profile – compare multiple indicators and data sets for one country or geo-political grouping
  • Country Comparison – compare one indicator across multiple countries
  • Custom View – compare various indicators across various countries
  • Country Quick View – use this to gain context for other information gathered in MarketLine.  You can also find full country profiles for the top 60 economies here.
  • Currency Converter – track any 2 currencies on a annual average or year-end basis

Latest News

• News and Comment section contains live news feed, comment and analysis.  Around 60 articles are added by MarketLine analysts daily in addition to hundreds of articles from financial and international press and other information providers.

 
NAVIGATION TIPS:

Browse

• Browse by category by clicking on the arrow button at the bottom of each column on the main page.
   
• Alternately you can click on the Find Information button from the home page to browse by industry, company or country.
• You can drill down further within that category by clicking on the hypertext links.  

Search

• To conduct a quick search, enter your term or terms in the Search Our Products box at the top of the home page and click on Go.
  
  
• If searching for a particular industry type the industry followed by the word “industry”, e.g. automotive industry. Do not limit by country as not all reports are included for every country.
• To search for a company simply type all or part of the company name in the Search Our Products box
• Multiple terms are automatically “anded” together.  

Wildcards

• Use ? for the first character of a string, e.g. ?an will retrieve pan, can or ban
• You can use * as a posterior truncation symbol, e.g. corp* will retrieve corporate, corporation, etc.

Boolean Searching

• Searches are automatically “anded” together
• The term “accrue” selects documents that include at least one of the search terms you specify and rank ones that contain both more highly e.g. Ford ACCRUE Honda – references either Ford or Honda and brings those articles referencing both search terms to the top of the hit list.  It does, however, sometimes exclude items that may be of interest.

SEARCH RESULTS

• A typical result screen will give you an exact match where possible plus relevant company profiles, relevant industry profiles, relevant deals, and relevant news and comments.
• To view results, click on the hyper link of the company name, industry sector, country name or title of article.
• Results can be displayed in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
• Industry reports are in PDF format

REFINE YOUR SEARCH

• From the results screen you can then refine your search to results published within the past 7 days, past 14 days, past 28 days, past year, past 2 years or past 2+ years by using the drop down menu on the left.
• You have the option to search within the search results by typing your search term(s) in the SEARCH WITHIN RESULTS box
• Below the SEARCH WITHIN RESULTS box, you have the option to refine by industry or refine by geography.

SEARCH THE TOOLS AND DATABASES
There are two ways to access the 3 databases.
Method 1 – from the main page, from the column to the right, under Tools and Databases

• Assess company M&A activity takes you to the Financial Deals database
• Understand country dynamics takes you to the Base Drivers database
• Value consumer markets takes you to industry information in the Consumer Markets database

Method 2 – Click on the Find Information button on the main page.
Click on the database of your choice from the column on the right


INDUSTRIES
Consumer Markets Database
From the Find Information screen, you will be guided through a series of screens where you can choose by clicking in check boxes beside the item. To refine your selection click on the + to the left of the industry and check off the boxes beside the relevant indicator(s)

• First choose an industry and a date range and click on Proceed to country selection
• Next choose a country or series of countries.  
• Select from the drop down box from market value, market volume, company shares or distribution.  
• Next choose from the drop down box between compare by country or compare by category
• Click on Proceed to next screen
• Results default to a chart, but you can create a bubble chart, stack chart, download into Excel, or save to disc.
• Forecast results are in italics.

Sample results below show the market value by country for 1999-2011 for cat care in the US and Canada.

 
COMPANIES
Financial Deals Database
Track mergers and acquisitions information on 3,000+ deals of over $5 million in value each month on a global basis

• The default screen shows the most recent deal first
• Type the company name in the Search Within Results box
• The hit list will contain information regarding the headline, the target, the acquirer, the value and the status of the deal i.e. whether it is rumoured, announced or completed.
• From here you can refine by industry or refine by geography.
• Once inside a record you can also trace the deal history

COUNTRIES
Base Drivers Database
The Base Drivers Database contains both historical and forecast macro-economic, socio-economic and demographic data for 215 countries and 46 geo-political groupings world wide. You can search the database using five different data views.

Country Profile
Compare multiple indicators and data sets for one country or geo-political grouping. For example, compare GDP, CPI and population splits for the USA only.

Country Comparison
Compare one indicator across multiple countries and geo-political groupings. For example, compare meat consumption in Canada, Japan, China and India.

Custom View
Build your own custom data view allowing cross-comparison of various indicators across various countries in the database. For example, compare internet users as percentage of the population and television sets per 100 people in Brazil, Russia, India, China and Canada from 2000-2015.

Country Quick View
This database provides a quick reference point for geographical, historical and political data for all countries in the database. This view is designed to provide context to the database by offering a top level overview of any country or geo-political grouping. In addition, you can view full country profile reports for the top 60 global economies.  You can create reports by selecting from indicators from agriculture to trade and compare over a range of years

Currency Converter
Compare any two currencies on both an annual average basis or a year-end basis. For example, see how the Japanese Yen has tracked against the Philippines Peso

To navigate these tools:

• From the entry screen either type in the country or geopolitical region you are interested in or click on the + signs besides the groupings, then check of the boxes beside the relevant countries or regions
• Click on Proceed to the next step
• Select from agricultural, commodities, environment, labour force, population or telecommunications indicators to compare
• Click on Proceed to the next step
• Select a year range from the drop down menus
• Click on Finish
• You can save the report to Word, Excel or PowerPoint formats.  In some instances you can plot results as a line chart or as a bar chart.

Printing Options

• Click in the print preview icon in your browser to select pages to print.

MarketLine offers a collection of company, industry and country information, extending across 200+countries and every major industry vertical. This market intelligence research resource is designed to enable users to build an understanding of markets and the factors that influence their development. It offers in-depth professional research and analysis in easy-to-digest formats, including interactive reports and databases.

• Provides current market research information such as industry profiles offering standardized market data (including size & segmentation) and competitive analysis, company profiles for over 10,000 public and private companies, plus 60 premium and 155 standard country profiles.
• There are approximately 1,800 Canadian companies listed.
• Includes over 2,500 market research reports on key industrial and consumer sectors across the world’s leading economies.  Includes 5 years historical and 5 year forecast market values and/or volumes.
• Includes SWOT analyses for the most important companies in each industry sector.
• Has live feed of relevant news, comment and analysis of current business issues, including merger and acquisition activity, product launches, and regulatory changes.

CONTENT TIPS

Industries

• Industry Reports draw on extensive primary and secondary research, all aggregated, analyzed, crosschecked and presented in a consistent format.  They include:
• • 5 year historical and 5 year forecast market values and/or volumes
  • market segmentations
  • company and / or product market shares
  • explanatory text identifying major trends and significant growth points
  • analysis of each market's competitive landscape, including main players
  • distribution channels and regulatory issues
• Industries – Consumer Markets Database
  This  database provides comprehensive data across global food, drinks and personal care markets.  The database is designed to offer a complete source of data to support market and business planning, marketing and research functions across consumer sectors. The database provides market size, segmentation, consumption, share and distribution channel data covering 55 countries and over 150 product categories, including five-year forecasts of market and category performance.

Companies

• Company Profilescoverage includes the most important global companies on a number of parameters. Companies are prioritized for inclusion where they are constituents of major stock indices, MarketLine industry rankings, or are covered by the major investment banks and financial community.
  Each profile includes:
• • company overviews
  • business descriptions
  • company history
  • executive and product listings
  • locations
  • subsidiaries
  • key competitors
• Companies – Financial Deals Database contains over 100,000 deal records, with five years of historical information supported by 3,000+ live deals of over $5 million in value tracked each month.  Each financial deal record provides:
  • Key deal facts
  • Details of companies involved
  • Deal timeframe and rationale
  • Target company financials
  • Advisor information
  • Investment firm details
  
  
  The database covers all major financial deals, regardless of industry or geography. In addition, the database will also comprehensively track lower value deals in the following industries:
  
  • Automotive and Logistics
  • Consumer
  • Energy
  • Financial Services
  • Healthcare
  • Retail
  • Technology

Countries

• Country Profiles include political analysis such as election details, policies and external relations; economic analysis such as trading partners, key issues; & key macroeconomic data such as GDP, inflation, unemployment, and stock exchange performance.
• Countries – Base Drivers Database
  Use this database to create your own reports, comparing macro-economic, socio-economic, and demographic data.
  Choose from:
• • Country Profile – compare multiple indicators and data sets for one country or geo-political grouping
  • Country Comparison – compare one indicator across multiple countries
  • Custom View – compare various indicators across various countries
  • Country Quick View – use this to gain context for other information gathered in MarketLine.  You can also find full country profiles for the top 60 economies here.
  • Currency Converter – track any 2 currencies on a annual average or year-end basis

Latest News

• News and Comment section contains live news feed, comment and analysis.  Around 60 articles are added by MarketLine analysts daily in addition to hundreds of articles from financial and international press and other information providers.

 
NAVIGATION TIPS:

Browse

• Browse by category by clicking on the arrow button at the bottom of each column on the main page.
   
• Alternately you can click on the Find Information button from the home page to browse by industry, company or country.
• You can drill down further within that category by clicking on the hypertext links.  

Search

• To conduct a quick search, enter your term or terms in the Search Our Products box at the top of the home page and click on Go.
  
  
• If searching for a particular industry type the industry followed by the word “industry”, e.g. automotive industry. Do not limit by country as not all reports are included for every country.
• To search for a company simply type all or part of the company name in the Search Our Products box
• Multiple terms are automatically “anded” together.  

Wildcards

• Use ? for the first character of a string, e.g. ?an will retrieve pan, can or ban
• You can use * as a posterior truncation symbol, e.g. corp* will retrieve corporate, corporation, etc.

Boolean Searching

• Searches are automatically “anded” together
• The term “accrue” selects documents that include at least one of the search terms you specify and rank ones that contain both more highly e.g. Ford ACCRUE Honda – references either Ford or Honda and brings those articles referencing both search terms to the top of the hit list.  It does, however, sometimes exclude items that may be of interest.

SEARCH RESULTS

• A typical result screen will give you an exact match where possible plus relevant company profiles, relevant industry profiles, relevant deals, and relevant news and comments.
• To view results, click on the hyper link of the company name, industry sector, country name or title of article.
• Results can be displayed in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
• Industry reports are in PDF format

REFINE YOUR SEARCH

• From the results screen you can then refine your search to results published within the past 7 days, past 14 days, past 28 days, past year, past 2 years or past 2+ years by using the drop down menu on the left.
• You have the option to search within the search results by typing your search term(s) in the SEARCH WITHIN RESULTS box
• Below the SEARCH WITHIN RESULTS box, you have the option to refine by industry or refine by geography.

SEARCH THE TOOLS AND DATABASES
There are two ways to access the 3 databases.
Method 1 – from the main page, from the column to the right, under Tools and Databases

• Assess company M&A activity takes you to the Financial Deals database
• Understand country dynamics takes you to the Base Drivers database
• Value consumer markets takes you to industry information in the Consumer Markets database

Method 2 – Click on the Find Information button on the main page.
Click on the database of your choice from the column on the right


INDUSTRIES
Consumer Markets Database
From the Find Information screen, you will be guided through a series of screens where you can choose by clicking in check boxes beside the item. To refine your selection click on the + to the left of the industry and check off the boxes beside the relevant indicator(s)

• First choose an industry and a date range and click on Proceed to country selection
• Next choose a country or series of countries.  
• Select from the drop down box from market value, market volume, company shares or distribution.  
• Next choose from the drop down box between compare by country or compare by category
• Click on Proceed to next screen
• Results default to a chart, but you can create a bubble chart, stack chart, download into Excel, or save to disc.
• Forecast results are in italics.

Sample results below show the market value by country for 1999-2011 for cat care in the US and Canada.

 
COMPANIES
Financial Deals Database
Track mergers and acquisitions information on 3,000+ deals of over $5 million in value each month on a global basis

• The default screen shows the most recent deal first
• Type the company name in the Search Within Results box
• The hit list will contain information regarding the headline, the target, the acquirer, the value and the status of the deal i.e. whether it is rumoured, announced or completed.
• From here you can refine by industry or refine by geography.
• Once inside a record you can also trace the deal history

COUNTRIES
Base Drivers Database
The Base Drivers Database contains both historical and forecast macro-economic, socio-economic and demographic data for 215 countries and 46 geo-political groupings world wide. You can search the database using five different data views.

Country Profile
Compare multiple indicators and data sets for one country or geo-political grouping. For example, compare GDP, CPI and population splits for the USA only.

Country Comparison
Compare one indicator across multiple countries and geo-political groupings. For example, compare meat consumption in Canada, Japan, China and India.

Custom View
Build your own custom data view allowing cross-comparison of various indicators across various countries in the database. For example, compare internet users as percentage of the population and television sets per 100 people in Brazil, Russia, India, China and Canada from 2000-2015.

Country Quick View
This database provides a quick reference point for geographical, historical and political data for all countries in the database. This view is designed to provide context to the database by offering a top level overview of any country or geo-political grouping. In addition, you can view full country profile reports for the top 60 global economies.  You can create reports by selecting from indicators from agriculture to trade and compare over a range of years

Currency Converter
Compare any two currencies on both an annual average basis or a year-end basis. For example, see how the Japanese Yen has tracked against the Philippines Peso

To navigate these tools:

• From the entry screen either type in the country or geopolitical region you are interested in or click on the + signs besides the groupings, then check of the boxes beside the relevant countries or regions
• Click on Proceed to the next step
• Select from agricultural, commodities, environment, labour force, population or telecommunications indicators to compare
• Click on Proceed to the next step
• Select a year range from the drop down menus
• Click on Finish
• You can save the report to Word, Excel or PowerPoint formats.  In some instances you can plot results as a line chart or as a bar chart.

Printing Options

• Click in the print preview icon in your browser to select pages to print.