Equity research - InterContinental Hotels Group

Mestrado Bolonha em FinançasThe following equity research project presents a valuation of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in respect of ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics and Management’s Master’s in Finance final work. This document goes in accordance with the recommended format by the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) institute. IHG was chosen because is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, with different brands and services in the Hospitality Industry. With a competitive format it seemed like a challenging process, and one that I would be happy to take. The recommendation for 2023F is REDUCE, using the WACC Method reaching a price target of $50.79/share, with a 6.47presenting a closing price of$47.70. Due to recent macro-economic factors and the industry volatility, it was given a classification of High-Risk for this valuation. In this case there is uncertainty and risks associated to the price target, the COVID-19 pandemic is still not completely contained, but mainly due to the recent war which impacted some market variables like the Risk-Free Rate and the Beta. This volatility in the market is not reflected in the price target due to their recent nature. It was also performed different valuation methods to complement the analysis, mainly the Dividend Discount Model (DDM), Flow to Equity, the Adjusted Present Value (APV), as well as a market-based relative valuation, based on a selection of peers, P/E, EV/EBITDA, and EV/EBIT were used for this valuation.Este projeto de equity research apresenta uma avaliação da empresa InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), no âmbito do trabalho final de Mestrado do Mestrado em Finance do ISEG – Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão. Este documento segue o formato recomendado pelo instituto Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). A empresa IHG foi escolhida por ser uma das maiores redes hoteleiras do mundo, com diferentes marcas e serviços no setor hoteleiro. Com um formato competitivo, pareceu ser um processo desafiador e que eu gostava de trabalhar. A recomendação para 2023F é REDUZIR, foi utilizado o Método WACC para atingir preço alvo de $50,79/ação, com potencial de valorização de 6,47setembro de 2022, apresentando um preço de fecho de$47,70. Devido a fatores macroeconômicos recentes e à volatilidade do setor, foi atribuída a classificação de Alto Risco para esta avaliação. Neste caso há incerteza e riscos associados ao preço alvo, a pandemia do COVID-19 ainda não está completamente contida, mas principalmente devido à recente guerra que impactou algumas variáveis do mercado como a taxa de juro sem risco e o Beta. Esta volatilidade do mercado não se reflete no preço alvo devido a ser um evento recente. Também foram realizados outros métodos de avaliação para complementar a análise, principalmente o DDM, Flow to Equity, o APV, bem como uma avaliação relativa, com base em uma seleção de competidores diretos, P/E, EV/EBITDA e EV/EBIT foram usados para esta avaliação.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contrasting soil fungal communities in Mediterranean pine forests subjected to different wildfire frequencies

Mediterranean forest ecosystems are characterized by various vascular plant groups with their associated mycorrhizae and free living soil fungi with various ecological functions. Fire plays a major role in Mediterranean ecosystem dynamics and impacts both above- and below-ground community structure and functioning. However, studies on the effects induced by altered disturbance regimes (associated with recent land use and climate extremes) on fire ecology and especially on its below-ground impacts are few. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of different wildfire regimes on soil fungal community structure using two different molecular methods. We investigated the long-term effects of wildfire on soil fungal communities associated with Pinus pinaster forests in central Portugal, by comparing the results of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE)-based profiling with those obtained with 454 pyrosequencing. Four forest stands with differing fire history and fire return interval, and vegetation cover (mature forest, early successional stage of pine regeneration, and forest converted to scrubland) were sampled 6 years after the last fire event. The pyrosequencing-based approach indicated ca. eight-fold higher numbers of taxa than DGGE. However, fungal community fingerprinting data obtained for the different study stands with DGGE were congruent with those obtained with pyrosequencing. Both short (7.6 years) and long (24 years) fire return intervals (indicated by the presence of ericaceous shrubs in the understorey) induced a decrease in the abundance ratio between basidiomycetes and ascomycetes and appeared to reduce the frequency of ectomycorrhizal fungal species and saprophytes. Wildfire significantly reduced the frequency of late stage successional taxa (e.g. Atheliaceae and Cantharellales) and known or putative saprophytes belonging to the Clavulinaceae and the Archaeorhizomycetaceae. Conversely, early successional fungal species belonging to the Thelephoraceae were favoured by both fire return intervals, while the abundance of Cortinarius and Hebeloma, which include several Cistus-specific species, increased with short wildfire return intervals. This last finding highlights the relationship between post-fire vegetation composition and cover (vegetation successional stage), and fungal symbionts. We hypothesise that these changes could, in the long term, exhaust the resilience of Mediterranean pine forest vegetation and associated soil fungal communities by preventing pine regeneration. © 2014, Mushroom Research Foundation