The Lombards A Germanic Tribe in Northern Italy

The Lombards were a Germanic tribe best known for establishing a kingdom in Italy. They were also known as  Langobard or Langobards (long-beard); in Latin,  Langobardus,  plural  Langobardi. Beginnings in Northwestern Germany In the first century C.E., the Lombards made their home in northwestern Germany. They were one of the tribes that made up the Suebi, and though this occasionally brought them into conflict with other Germanic and Celtic tribes, as well as with the Romans, for the most part the greater number of Lombards led a fairly peaceful existence, both sedentary and agricultural. Then, in the fourth century C.E., the Lombards began a great southward migration that took them through present-day Germany and into what is now Austria. By the end of the fifth century C.E., they had established themselves fairly firmly in the region north of the Danube River. A New Royal Dynasty In the mid-sixth century, a Lombard leader by the name of Audoin took control of the tribe, beginning a new royal dynasty. Audoin apparently instituted a tribal organization similar to the military system used by other Germanic tribes, in which war bands formed of kinship groups were led by a hierarchy of dukes, counts, and other commanders. By this time, the Lombards were Christian, but they were Arian Christians. Beginning in the mid 540s, the Lombards engaged in war with the Gepidae, a conflict that would last about 20 years. It was Audoins successor, Alboin, who finally put an end to the war with the Gepidae. By allying himself with the eastern neighbors of the Gepidae, the Avars, Alboin was able to destroy his enemies and kill their king, Cunimund, in about 567. He then forced the kings daughter, Rosamund, into marriage. Moving to Italy Alboin realized that the Byzantine Empires overthrow of the Ostrogothic kingdom in northern Italy had left the region nearly defenseless. He judged it an auspicious time to move into Italy and crossed the Alps in the spring of 568. The Lombards met very little resistance, and over the next year and a half they subdued Venice, Milan, Tuscany, and Benevento. While they spread into central and southern parts of the Italian peninsula, they also focused on Pavia, which fell to Alboin and his armies in 572 C.E., and which would later become the capital of the Lombard kingdom. Not long after this, Alboin was murdered, probably by his unwilling bride and possibly with the help of Byzantines. The reign of his successor, Cleph, lasted only 18 months, and was notable for Clephs ruthless dealings with Italian citizens, especially landowners. Rule of the Dukes When Cleph died, the Lombards decided not to choose another king. Instead, military commanders (mostly dukes) each took control of a city and the surrounding territory. However, this rule of the dukes was no less violent than life under Cleph had been, and by 584 the dukes had provoked an invasion by an alliance of Franks and Byzantines. The Lombards set Clephs son Authari on the throne in hopes of unifying their forces and standing against the threat. In so doing, the dukes gave up half of their estates in order to maintain the king and his court. It was at this point that Pavia, where the royal palace was built, became the administrative center of the Lombard kingdom. Upon the death of Authari in 590, Agilulf, duke of Turin, took the throne. It was Agilulf who was able to recapture most of the Italian territory that the Franks and Byzantines had conquered. A Century of Peace Relative peace prevailed for the next century or so, during which time the Lombards converted from Arianism to orthodox Christianity, probably late in the seventh century. Then, in 700 C.E., Aripert II took the throne and reigned cruelly for 12 years. The chaos that resulted was finally ended when Liudprand (or Liutprand) took the throne. Possibly the greatest Lombard king ever, Liudprand focused largely on the peace and security of his kingdom, and did not look to expand until several decades into his reign. When he did look outward, he slowly but steadily pushed out most of the Byzantine governors left in Italy. He is generally considered a powerful and beneficial ruler. Once again the Lombard kingdom saw several decades of relative peace. Then King Aistulf (reigned 749–756) and his successor, Desiderius (reigned 756–774), began invading papal territory. Pope Adrian I turned to Charlemagne for help. The Frankish king acted swiftly, invading Lombard territory and besieging Pavia; in about a year, he had conquered the Lombard people. Charlemagne styled himself King of the Lombards as well as King of the Franks. By 774 the Lombard kingdom in Italy was no more, but the region in northern Italy where it had flourished is still known as Lombardy. In the late 8th century an important history of the Lombards was written by a Lombard poet known as Paul the Deacon.

The New Eldercare Service Model Must Be One Of Inclusion

Chapter Health Disparities in America The new eldercare service model must be one of inclusion. We can no longer afford to marginalize any group of seniors. –Author Introduction I n the United States, wealth is the strongest determinant of health; and the strength of this relationship is profound and continues to increase. Wealth confers many benefits that are associated with health and quality of life outcomes. Wealth creates disparities in high quality education, employment, housing, childcare, nutrition, leisure activities, access to quality medical care, and safer and cleaner neighborhoods. Economic studies, the national press, and forward thinking political leaders are reporting on the major wealth disparities that already exist†¦show more content†¦The Affordable Care Act is moving us in the right direction, but the social inequities and discrimination remain the same. We can’t purport to have a national goal to â€Å"eliminate health disparities† and continue to accept the social inequities that come from such a major gap in wealth. If we hope to solve the pressing issues of eldercare, these inequities must be addressed head on now and in the future. Otherwise, those who are caregivers now may not have access to the care they will need in the future. Defining Health Disparity The United States Department of Health has an overarching goal â€Å"to eliminate health disparities.† This term has no absolute definition. It is most often defined as â€Å"health differences that occur by gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, living in rural localities, or sexual orientation,† or â€Å"population specific difference in the presence of disease, health outcomes, or access to care.† Many factors cause health disparities. Older adults face challenges in one or all of these disparities. Depending on their living conditions and life-time health problems, they may be in double or triple jeopardy, increasing their risk for serious illness and need for eldercare. Defining Health Care Disparities The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defines health care disparities as the â€Å"difference in the quality of care received by minorities and non-minorities who have equal access to care.† Health care disparities can be affected by how

British Airways Management of Company Finance Free Essays

Ahoussou kouadio Jean Christian Student number: 2522706 Management of company finance Analysis of the financial structure of British Airways Name of professor: Tony Kilmister British airways is one of the most valuable company in the world that is why I choose her. With the aim to evaluate the proportion of debt in British airways, we will study his financial gearing: income gearing and capital gearing. In order to calculate the company’s capital gearing according to the book value, we need especially the value of the long-term and short-term borrowings and the value of shareholders’ funds. We will write a custom essay sample on British Airways Management of Company Finance or any similar topic only for you Order Now But, there is several different formulas which arises some issues: the fact that the book value is lower than the market value (the first formula) and provisions can be considered either as liabilities or assets (the second formula), depending on firm. Then I will calculate the Weighted Average Cost of Capital. In 2004, the way of doing the balance sheets changed that’s why there are some differences between two reports. Part ——————————————————————————————1 Measure of the gearing and income ratio Part —————————————————————————– ————-2 Measure of the debt and equity based upon the market value Part ——————————————————————————————3 Estimation of the WACC. I) Measure of gearing and income ratios We will take those expressions: 1. Debt to equity ratio=Long term Liabilities/Shareholders’funds 2. Debt to debt plus equity ratio=LTL/(LTL+ Shareholders’funds) 3. Long Term Borrowings/Shareholders’ funds a) Gearing Ratio Capital Gearing = LTL / Shareholders’ Funds    |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |259. 75% |437. 6% |590. 7% | To set an upp er ratio; we can incorporate the LTL at the shareholder value. Capital Gearing = LTL / (LTL + Shareholders’ Funds) |   |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |72. 2% |81. 4% |85. 5% | The provision are incorporates in those 2 formulas. We can consider that the provision can be take as liabilities (highly certain) or as equity (ultra-prudence). Capital Gearing = Long Term Borrowing (LTL – provisions) / Shareholders’ Funds |   |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |193. 5% |341. 4 % |475,40% | Net Debt: Net debt = (Finance debt – cash and liquid resources)/ Equity For British Airways, Net debt = (loans, finance leases and hire purchase arrangements + Convertible Capital Bonds, net of other current interest bearing deposits and cash and cash equivalents – overdrafts) British Airways’ definition from the annual report 2006) |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |1641 |2922 |4158 | The figures of long term liabilities are higher than the net debt that explain the fact that the ratios are different; The company health seem less vital, because of the cash and those equivalent, and deposits. Overdrafts are not representing a big amount, we include them. Since 2004 a policy of h igh liquidity is developed in order to reduce the debt, they tried to repay the debt earlier. The debt are reduced by the conversion of the 112 millions of convertible bonds. â€Å"The ? 320 million 9 3/4 per cent Convertible Capital Bonds 2005 issued in 1989 matured on June 15, 2005. On that date 47,979,486 ordinary shares were issued in exchange for 112,317,274 Convertible Capital Bonds on the basis of one ordinary share for every 2. 34 Bonds held† (British Airways Report 2006). The capital gearing of the company is around 65% in almost all gearing indicators and more in som of them, as a conclusion we can say that the financial statement of the company is risky and more the company is weak due to the payment on the debt. We can also highlight the fact that British Airways is finance by debt. Its has a important amount of lease and purchase arrangement, which exceeds the bank loans. b) Income Gearing This ratios show us the security of creditor’s fund and the debt exposure. While using Income Ration we highlight the relation of the company’s income and its interest commitments. Income Ratio = Interest payable / Profit Before Interest and Tax |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Income Gearing |0,17 |0,26 |0,87 | Interest are taking a lower place in the profit (strategy reduction of debt). In fact, we use the Interest cover to see if the company can meet its interest. Interest cover = Profit before interest and tax / Interest charges |Times |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Interest Cover |5,79 |3,80 |1,15 | The company can afford her interest. 1) Because of the decrease of the amount of debt, 2) The profit before tax and interest increased by 269%, the risk is less important. We can also use another formula, which gives a better image of the finance. It based on the fact that cash has not been received. As a conclusion we can says that: :British Airways reduced its long term debt by 28. 5%, and keep their interest payment low and increase the PBIT strongly. From the shareholder point of view, the company takes high risks so they have a good return on investment although reduction of the debt of the company makes the rate of return lower and lower. II) Measure of the debt and equity based on the market value a) Value of Equity Share Price*:Number of Shares*: 2004: ? 2,181 083 845 000 2005: ? ,941 082 903 000 2006: ? 2,791 130 882 000 *I took those which were in the report. *The difference in the number of shares between 2005 and 2006 is the conversion of the 112 millions of Convertible Bonds into 47,979,486 shares. The value of equity is now: |? |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Value of Equity |3 155 160 780 |2 100 831 820 |2 362 782 100 | b)Rating: Value of Debt [pic ] The rating shows that the company take risks for financing because she invest in high return share in the junk bond or high yield market those are really unstable. This means that the company is highly financing by debt, investor need an important rate of return regards to the risk of non payment. In spite of that, British Airways’s main source of external funding is less sensitive to credit rating than the unsecured bond. The impact of the credit ration is not important for some parts of the debt. We will use the faire value of the debt to calculate the market value of debt. Because of the â€Å"†fair values of the Euro-Sterling notes and Euro-Sterling Bond 2016 are based on the quoted market values at March 31, 2006. The fair values of floating rate borrowings are deemed to be equal to their carrying values. † British Airways Report Example in March, 31st 2006: [pic] Market value of the debt is: |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Market Value of Debt |4 130 |4 682 |5 954 | |Book Value of Debt |4 081 |4 492 |5 716 | The problem is: Those market values are blending the current liabilities. In the purpose to respect the ratios made before, I will deduct with percentage the current liabilities. The new market value of debt is: |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Market Value of Debt |3645 |4216 |5244 | |Book Value of Debt |3 602 |4 045 |5 034 | There is the a market where Debt are trade daily, that explain the difference between years. ) Measure of gearing based on market values We use here the gearing ratio to compare the book value and the market value of the company: Capital Gearing = LTL / Shareholders’ Funds |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |115,5 |200,7 |221,9 | We can make a second ratio in order to set an upper limit: Capital Gearing = LTL / (LTL + Shareholders’ Funds) % |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Capital Gearing |53,6 |66,7 |68,9 | Figures are lower than the one we made with the book value. The equity are valued in the book value at 25p whereas in the market value at an average price of the three years at 230p This divergence makes the ratios lower, t hus with the book values the company seems to be less indebted and also less risky to investors. III) Estimation of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) a) Cost of Equity To estimate the cost of equity, we can use two ways: 1) the dividend valuation model 2) the Capital Asset Price Model (CAPM). In this case, we can not use the dividend valuation model because the company did not distribute dividends since 2001, so the cost of equity will be 0 that would lead to irrelevant results. British Airways has not distributed dividends because: -They wants to strengthen the balance sheet by making new investment, then it invests into the company Quantas and also into the 5th Terminal in Heathrow. British Airways is the 13th highest performing company out of the 93 FTSE 100 companies remaining for the performance period April,1st 2003 to March, 31st 2006. The board of director indicated that the payment of dividends will be resumed at an appropriate time. To calculate the cost of equity, the CAPM is the only model available: Ke = Rf + ? (Rm – Rf) Rf ( the risk-free return; Rm ( the market risk; ? ( quantitative measure of the volatility of a given stock, mutual fund, or portfolio, relative to the overall market. A beta above 1 is more volatile than the overall market, while a beta below 1 is less volatile. For British Airways, the Beta is, for the three years, 0,91. The risk-free return can be found in the website of the Bank of England for each years and the market risk is the caps of the FTSE 100 of year N less years N-1 divided by the caps year N-1: (Caps N – caps N-1) / caps N-1 The risk-free return rate is: 2004: 4,75% 2005: 5,1% 2006: 4,2% The market risk is: |   |31. 03. 2006 |31. 03. 2005 |31. 03. 004 | |Caps FTSE 100 |5964,6 |4894,4 |4385,7 | |year N – year N-1 |1070,2 |508,7 |772,4 | |Market Risk (%) |21,87 |11,60 |21,38 | The Cost of Equity using the CAPM is: |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Cost of Equity |20,1 |10,9 |19,7 | ) Cost of debt In order to obtain the cost of debt, the best ratio is to divide the interest payable by the debt: |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Cost Of Debt |2,62 |3,01 |3,50 | They leads to the same conclusion decrease in Debt and interest. We can add that no debt has been taken in 2006. All the purchase have been made by internal cash flow. c) The WACC The Weighted Average Cost of Capital is used to measure the cost of capital. The formula is: Ko = Ke (Ve/Vo) + Kd (Vd/Vo) Where: Ke (the cost of equity Ve (the value of equity Kd (the cost of debt Vd (the value of debt Vo (the total value of the firm: |? million |2006 |2005 |2004 | |Vo |7 236 |6 593 |8 079 | The WACC is: |% |2006 |2005 |2004 | |WACC |10,08 |5,41 |8,04 | The amount of Debt decreased but the WACC stay in the average, that because of the high level of the cost of equity. 2005 is discernible by a share price lower than the two other years. This leads to a lower shareholders’ funds and also an higher influence of the debt’s drop, therefore the lower WACC. However, the CAPM have some limitations. – He is based on several assumptions: – The investors are rational and risk-adverse who set a level of risk. – The investors have the same single-period planning horizon. – The investors have homogeneous expectations on the future yield. The investors can borrow and lend unlimited amounts at a risk-free rate. – There is neither taxes nor cost of transactions – The investors have all an efficient portfolio which maximize the yield, for a level of risk given. Whole of efficient portfolio form a curve called the efficiency frontier†¦ To conclude, from the point of view of market value, we can say that British airways succeeded to face its commitments in term of debt and equity. Indeed, they took advantage of an increase in share price. The repayment of share allowing to reduce the gearing in debt capital. How to cite British Airways Management of Company Finance, Essay examples

Global Economic Crisis-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignement

Question: Write a report on Globalization and/or the Current Global Economic Crisis. Answer: The current global economic scenario has been experiencing the implications of an international phenomenon known as the Globalization. The term globalization indicates towards a more open and interconnected global framework, which facilitates the free and easy transfer of goods and services across different countries. As can be gauged from the notion of the term of globalization, the phenomenon is expected to facilitate international trade considerably and is also expected to facilitate the internal cost effectiveness of those industries of the countries in which the country experiences comparative advantages in production, thereby taking the concerned economies on the path of development (Beck, 2015, pp 9-10). However, Globalization, though is expected to have positive effects on the overall international economy, it is however expected to have several negative implications on those countries which are developing or are at low stages of development and in which the condition of the economies are fragile. This may happen because in most of such economies the industrial sectors are either almost non-existent or are at infant state. In such a scenario, Globalization, by opening the countries to entry of foreign efficient companies who can pose a serious threat to the growth and expansion of the domestic industries (Kaplinsky, 2013). Thus, it can be expected that the Globalization may have a distorted and skewed effect on the overall scenario of international economics as the benefits are mainly expected to be accrued to the developed countries. However, the poor and low developed countries face the threat of losing out economic power and growth aspects which may hamper their growth in the long run. The paper tries to analyze the pros and cons of Globalization in this aspect. References Beck, U. (2015).What is globalization?. John Wiley Sons, 9-10. Kaplinsky, R. (2013).Globalization, poverty and inequality: Between a rock and a hard place. John Wiley Sons.