Episode 127

EPISODE 127
LEVEL A2

READING COMPREHENSION

Performance report

In our home market it has been another excellent year. Pre-tax profits are up by £25 million, and the forecast for the next quarter is equally good. Profits from abroad are down because of a recession in Japan. However, our overall performance has been good, and the earnings have increased to 26.4p and the dividend will be increased to 4.3p per share, which will please our shareholders.

We plan to issue new shares in order to finance expansion in Asia. W also plan to increase our investment in plant and equipment before entering the Chinese market. We are particularly pleased with our performance in France and Germany where revenues have increased. As a result of using a new distributor, our costs fell giving us a gross margin of 40 percent on our main product line. We will use any extra cash to reduce the level of our debt.
Our performance in Italy should improve significantly following the bankruptcy of our biggest competitor. However, we should not become too satisfied with our share price as economic conditions remain uncertain and the stock market will continue to reflect this. Share prices will not rise in the short term.

 

Exercise 1

Find, in the reading text, the English equivalents of these expressions:

1. marża brutto
2. akcja, udział
3. dług
4. rynek papierów wartosciowych
5. inwestycja
6. prognoza
7. bankructwo
8. zysk przed opodatkowaniem
9. przychody
10. akcjonariusz, udziałowiec

 

Exercise 2

Match the words from the two columns into collocations from the text:

1. biggest                cash
2. economic           competitor
3. extra                   conditions
4. gross                   line
5. home                  price
6. overall                market
7. product              margin
8. share                  performance

 

Phrasals, phrasals

 

Today’s reading text contains probably the easiest ever phrasal verbs: to go up and to go down. In the text they were, and usually are, used to talk about trends and changes, e.g.:
Our costs are down this month so the profits are up.
Easy, isn’t it?

 

Grammar corner…

Let’s have a look at a few sentences from this lesson’s reading text:
In our home market it has been another excellent year. (…) However, our overall performance has been good, and the earnings have increased to 26.4p…
(…) We are particularly pleased with our performance in France and Germany where revenues have increased.
These extracts contain the already known tense: present perfect. As a quick reminder: we use this tense, among others, when we want to announce a new fact, for example to talk about a company’s performance in the last period of time, just like in our text.
To use the tense correctly we must remember the third form of verbs, for example: to be, was/were, been, to do, did, done.

 

Exercise 3

Do you remember the third form of these verbs?

1. (be)come
2. begin
3. break
4. bring
5. buy
6. choose
7. cost
8. cut
9. drive
10. eat
11. fall
12. feel
13. find
14. forget
15. give
16. go
17. grow
18. hold
19. keep
20. know
21. leave
22. lend
23. lose
24. make
25. meet
26. pay
27. put
28. read
29. rise
30. say
31. see
32. sell
33. send
34. speak
35. spend
36. take
37. tell
38. think
39. win
40. write

 

GLOSSARY

performance report – raport wyników
home market – rynek krajowy
pre-tax profit – zysk przed opodatkowaniem
to be up – wzrosnąć, zwiększyć się
forecast – prognoza
equally – równie
quarter – kwartał
to be down – spaść, zmniejszyć się
recession – recesja
overall – ogólny, całkowity
earnings – dochody, zarobki
to increase – wzrosnąć
dividend – dywidenda
share – akcja, udział
to please sb – usatysfakcjonować kogoś
shareholder – akcjonariusz, udziałowiec
to issue – emitować
in order to – w celu
expansion – ekspansja
investment – inwestycja
plant – fabryka, wytwórnia
equipment – sprzęt
to enter – wejść (do, na)
market – rynek
particularly – szczególnie
pleased – zadowolony
revenues – przychody
gross margin – marża brutto
product line – linia produktów
level – poziom
debt – dług
significantly – znacząco
following – w ślad za
bankruptcy – bankructwo
competitor – konkurent
to remain – pozostawać
uncertain – niepewny
stock market – giełda papierów wartościowych
to reflect – odzwierciedlać
to rise – wzrosnąć
in the short term – na krótką metę

 

 

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