2015-04-08
611
A one man business, a partnership and a private company are all limited in their ability to expand because they may lack sufficient capital. If they wish to build a large factory costing say £5 million they often cannot find enough money from within the firm. They must therefore raise the capital by offering shares for sales to members of the public, and becoming a public limited company. Any member of the public may buy shares in a public limited company and when he does so he immediately becomes a “part owner” of the business. Thus a firm that started in a very small way as a one man business, owned and controlled by one man, may eventually be owned and controlled by hundreds and sometimes thousands of shareholders. The public limited company is the largest kind of a company.
Methods of raising capital are: debenture issue, the preference share, the accumulative preference share, the ordinary share, the deferred share.
A debenture is a loan made to a company which must by law be secured against the assets of the firm. By this we mean that the firm must always be in a position to repay debenture capital to debenture holders. It is able to do this by using the capital raised by debenture issues to buy properties and others assets which are readily convertible to cash. Debentures pay a fixed rate of interest and are really loans to companies. They are a very secure method of investment. Debenture holders are not allowed to vote at shareholders’ meetings, and play no part in the ownership and control of the company.
The preference shares are accumulative. This means that if a company in unable to pay preference shareholders in the current year then it may decide to pay any money it owns on an accumulative basis and add it to a next year’s dividend.
Ordinary shares are the main shares of the company. Ordinary shareholders may attend shareholders’ meetings. The more ordinary shares that person holds, the greater his share of ownership of the business is.
If the company makes only a small profit then the dividend declared will probably be low and the ordinary shareholder will receive a very small dividend, but if the dividend is high the ordinary shareholders do well. If the firm goes bankrupt the ordinary shareholder will probably lose the whole of his investment. Thus it can be said that the ordinary shareholder carries the major portion of the risks of the firm.
Most companies declare their dividends twice a year at six monthly intervals.
Words:
debenture долговое обязательство
preference share привилегированная акция
ordinary share обыкновенная акция с нефиксирован-ным дивидендом
deferred share акция с отсроченным дивидендом
cash наличные деньги
2 Выберите правильный вариант ответа на каждый вопрос.
1. Which of the following organizations has unlimited ability to expand?
a) the partnership; b) the sole trader; c) the public limited company
2. Where do companies get the money from?
a) shares for sale; b) personal savings; c) bank loan
3. What is the maximum number of shareholders in the private limited company?
a) 20; b) 50; c) unlimited
4. Whom is a public limited company owned by?
a) government; b) board of directors; c) shareholders
5. What kind of business has limited liability?
a) the one man business; b) the partnership; c) the private limited company
3 Употребите следующие предложения в Past и Future Indefinite Tenses.
1. I speak with the General Manager from the plant.
2. We discuss prices and terms of delivery.
3. People use our technology.
4. The Supplier doesn’t agree to reduce the price.
5. There are some problems in cost reduction.
6. We open our restaurant at some risk.
7. Does your business need investment?
8. Their company is the unquestionable leader among alternative credit-financing structures.
УРОК 7
