Middle school Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Middle school - Essay Example According to Staff (2007), middle school students between the age of twelve and fifteen are driven by peer pressure to engage in sexual activities. Though there has been concerns about the safety of these middle school students in terms of the side effects of birth control measures (Staff, 2007), it is worth noting that the benefits of providing birth control among school going teenagers far outweigh the drawbacks. Therefore, contraceptives should be made available to school going teenagers particularly in schools. This paper presents an argument in support of provision of contraceptives to middle school teens. One of the reasons in support of provision of contraceptives to middle school teens relates to education. Welsh (2012) posits that "Half of girls who had children before age eighteen graduate from high school and less than two percent earn a college degree by the time they are thirty". In other words, teenage pregnancy denies them a right to education. In essence, this is attributed to the challenges associated with pregnancies particularly health issues. In addition, the pregnant teen has to drop out of school in order to take care of the child. Access to contraceptives can thus help prevent unplanned pregnancies among middle school students and consequently elevate their chances of completing their education and a better future. The case of T.C. Williams school for instance presents an illustration of the benefits of contraceptives to middle school teens. Before the clinic was moved to the school, a total of fifty pregnancies were reported within a year. In the first year of the c linics relocation to the school, the number of reported teen pregnancies dropped to thirty five and twenty in the second year (Welsh, 2012). As noted by Welsh (2012), individuals who argue against issuance of contraceptives to middle school girls argue that the practice would encourage more teenagers to engage in dangerous sexual activities.

SEC 10-K annual report for Nike Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

SEC 10-K annual report for Nike Inc - Essay Example The company adopted its â€Å"Swoosh† logo in 1971. Dramatic growth of the company started with the signing of Michael Jordan and the launch of the Air Jordan brand in 1985. The company revenues have grown at 8.2% CAGR in the last 10 years while the profits have grown at 23.1% CAGR (Gibbs, 2012). Athletic footwear made up 64% of Nike’s products business in 2012 and sports apparel 30%. Branded equipment made up the remaining 6%. The global footwear industry is projected to grow from $ 185 billion in 2011 to $ 211 billion in 2018. Athletic footwear is expected to be about one-third of this market (PR Web, 2012). The sports apparel market is expected to grow in the same period from $ 122 billion to $ 190 billion (TREFIS, 2010). Nike’s market share in both markets is expected to grow over the next five years as shown in the charts below which should make Nike an even stronger market leader in its industry (Guenette, 2013). 2. Analysis of Nike Financial Reports The th ree key financial reports to be examined are the Income Statement, the Balance Sheet and the Cash Flow statement. A summary of these three statements made from the company’s 10-K filing for the fiscal year ended 31 May 2012 has been included in this report. 2.1 Analysis of the Income Statement A summary of the Income Statement is shown below (Nike Annual Report, 2012, p 41). Income Statement ( in $ million)    2012 2011 2010 Revenues 24,128 20,862 19,014 Cost of Sales 13,657 11,354 10,214 Gross Profit 10,471 9,508 8,800 Gross Margin % 43.4% 45.6% 46.3% Marketing Expense 2,711 2,448 2,356 Other overheads 4,720 4,245 3,970 Total SG & A 7,431 6,693 6,326 SGA / Revenue % 30.8% 32.1% 33.3% Interest expense 3 4 6 Other expenses/ (income) 54 (33) (49) Income before Tax 2,983 2,844 2,517 Tax expense 760 711 610 Net Income 2,223 2,133 1,907 Net Income / Revenue % 9.2% 10.2% 10.0% The company revenues have grown 16% in 2012 over 2011 which were 10% higher than the previous year (Nike Annual Report, 2012, pp 18-20). This growth shows that Nike is gaining market share as the total markets are only growing at around 2% a year. Nike’s main competitor Adidas had revenues of â‚ ¬ 11.88 million ($ 15.6 billion) in 2012, a growth of 11.7% over 2011 (Adidas Annual Report, 2012, p 190). The Gross Margin has decreased by about 300 basis points over the two years to 43.4% and this has been attributed by the company management to increases in input costs, higher import taxes in some countries and discounts on close-out sales (Nike Annual Report, 2012, p 21). Adidas has had significantly higher gross margins at 47.7% in 2012 and 47.5% in 2011 (Adidas Annual Report, 2012, p 190). The decline in gross margin for Nike has been offset by reduced SG&A costs and the net income in 2012 has only declined 80 basis points compared to 2010. For Adidas the SG&A costs are much higher than Nike at 41.3% in 2012 and 41.8% in 2011 resulting in a net income of 5.3 % in 2012 9 (excl uding â‚ ¬ 265 million Goodwill write-off) compared to 4.6 % in 2011. 2.2 Analysis of the Balance Sheet The Nike balance sheet as of 31 May is given only for two years 2011 and 2012 in their Annual Report and is summarized below. a) Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) The Capital Employed in Nike’s operations is the total of the non-current assets in the balance sheet and the working capital made up of inventories and accounts receivables less