Where Is Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc.?: Labor Productivity And Financial Competitiveness Benchmarks Published

ICON Group International Ltd. today released two of the most comprehensive studies to date on labor productivity and vertical gap analysis benchmarks for Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc. (NYSE: SSD).

The Report has benchmarked Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc. against competing firms in the Fabricated Structural Metal Products industry worldwide -- going beyond traditional methods of company benchmarking. The results are two specialized reports: (1) global financial benchmarks using common-size statement ratios (vertical analysis), and (2) labor-productivity and utilization measures collected across borders. Parker notes, "With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of entry barriers, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company's financial indicators on a worldwide basis. World stock markets have recently witnessed a return to fundamental financial analysis. Sound management as opposed to hype will in the long run generate shareholder value."

The methodologist for this unique study is Philip Parker, Eli Lilly Chair Professor of Innovation, Business and Society at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France and Singapore). According to Professor Parker, "We created these reports in response to two inescapable trends: a return to fundamentals and globalization." The goal of these reports is to assist consultants, financial managers, strategic planners, and corporate officers in gauging indicators of Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc.'s human resource and financial structure.

Professor Parker states, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures between Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc. and other Fabricated Structural Metal Products companies. The Pretax Margin (%), for example, varied from -6.64 to 17.17. We see this type of variation in the hundreds of ratios that we estimate."

What do the reports cover?

Two reports, labor productivity ratios and vertical analysis ratios, are available for Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc. Each report reveals productivity and industry ranks for companies in the Fabricated Structural Metal Products industry.

The labor productivity analysis details the following: What has been the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are typical capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee compared to global benchmarks?

The vertical analysis answers the following questions: How has Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc.'s asset structure varied compared to global benchmarks for the Fabricated Structural Metal Products industry? Does it generally hold more cash and other short-term assets, or does it tend to concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? On the liability side, does Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc. typically have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks, or does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc. have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, or income taxes compared to global benchmarks? Have Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc.'s returns on equity been higher or its profit margins greater?

Reports for over 50 Fabricated Structural Metal Products companies are available now including:

Agta Record, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Buderus AG, Bunka Shutter Co., Ltd, Butler Manufacturing Co, Cardo AB, Chart Industries Incorporated, Gulf Island Fabrication Inc, Harsco Corporation, Hunter Douglas N.V., Ipsco Inc., Kingspan Group PLC, Komatsu Wall Industry Co., Ltd., Lacroix SA, Modine Manufacturing Company, NCI Building Systems, Inc., Nordon et Cie, Quixote Corporation, Rohn Industries, Inc., Showa Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Siderar Sociedad Anonima Industrial y Comercial, Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc., Tateyama Aluminium Industry Co., Ltd., and Valmont Industries, Incorporated

How do they do that?: Methodology

While most vertical analyses merely focus on benchmarking against domestic ratios, often published by government agencies or commercial sources, the report calculates thousands of industry norms by looking at firms at the global level. It pools statistics on tens of thousands of companies across over 40 countries, and applies a seven-stage methodology: (1) identification of industry classifications, (2) firm-level data collection and aggregation, (3) standardization of raw statistics, (4) filtering outliers, (5) calculation of global norms, (6) projection of deviations and gaps, and (7) projection of ranks and percentiles. For each part of the financial statement, the larger structural differences and gaps between Simpson Manufacturing Company, Inc. and the global benchmarks are provided with summary tables of ranks and percentiles.

Previously available only through booksellers such as Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Hoovers, two studies are now available direct from the publisher at a 50% discount off the cover price. This special offer includes International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis and Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis at US$199.90 ($99.95 each). E-mail iconsubs@san.rr.com for more information.