Analysing specific financial issues in Oxford Instruments PLC - Essay Example

The company has a vision to actually turn smart science into viable and affordable commercial products which can be easily available to the target market. It is involved in the development of sophisticated The company started as a small company manufacturing magnets used in the scientific research however, over the period of time, company grew and become one of the most important players in the market. Its history also suggests that it was the first spin-off from the Oxford University and was the first venture which was successfully launched from Oxford University.

This paper will explore the financial performance of the Oxford Instruments Plc with special reference to how stock markets are related with the public limited companies and their performance, relationship between the investor values and financial performance of the firm, the gearing level and issue of debt to the investors besides summarizing the overall things with special reference to the limitations of the ratio analysis. There are different methods under which an organization can actually raise money and utilize those funds for the expansion and development of business.

One of the key methods of having funds is to basically borrow from the banks, financial institutions or through issuing debt to the investors. Debt or the money borrowed by the companies however, have to be paid repaid along with the interest rates to the debt holders i.e. the persons who actually buy the debt and expect to be repaid with their original principal amount and the interest. Secondly, however, firms can also raise money by selling their equity on the stock markets. A firm, when issuing stocks for the first time to raise money, enters into what is called primary issue of stock listing.

Primary issue is basically when the firm sells its stocks for the first time at the price they decide to set whereas secondary selling of the stock market takes place