Asset growth anomaly in the UK stock market

ASSET GROWTH ANOMALY IN THE UK STOCK MARKET PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This study examines the existence and the characteristics of the asset growth anomaly in the UK stock market. Especially I concentrate on the asset pricing impact of asset growth on cross-sectional stock returns in the stock market. This study is the first to investigate the asset growth anomaly in this scope in another major stock market, i.e. UK stock market. DATA The sample data consists of all UK stocks listed in London stock exchange between January 1982 and June 2009. All financial companies are excluded from the sample. The market data and accounting information are collected from Thomson Reuters Datastream. The final sample consists of 3218 individual stocks. RESULTS The results indicate a negative relation between the growth in total assets and expected stock returns in the UK stock market. However the observed impact is not as strong and persisting as the previous studies have shown it to be in the US stock market. The portfolio sorts reveal strikingly the anomaly profits were strongest among the large companies, though the anomaly was also visible among the small companies. Only among medium sized companies the anomaly are not economically viable. The regression analysis on the individual stock level indicates that the total asset growth is significant determinant of the cross-sectional stock returns. In addition to this the results also indicate that the past performance affects the anomaly profits and the stock prices are strongly reverting among high and low asset growth companies. KEYWORDS Asset growth anomaly, asset pricing, total asset growth, expected stock return

Spawning migration of Norwegian spring spawning herring (Clupea harengus L.) in relation to population structure

Dr. Scient. Thesis. / Department of Fisheries and Marine Biology. University of Bergen. Norwa

Whose Justice, What Political Theology? : On Christian and Theological Approaches to Human Rights in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries

Peer reviewe

Use of data from the commercial fishing industry in the management of Norwegian spring spawning herring (Clupea harengus L.).

Every year the commercial fish industry of Norwegian spring spawning herring collects a severe amount of data for sales purposes that in fact could be very useful for scientific and management purposes too. The present ‘paper describes a new method for estimation of catch at age, which takes advantage of information of catch by size groups collected by The Norwegian fishemen’s sales organisation for pelagic fish. At landing herring catches for human consumption are divided into 5 size groups by individual weights as follows: group 1 (>333 g), group 2 (200-333 g), group 3 (125-200 g), group 4 (83-125 g) and group 5 (~83 g). Annually many thousands of catches and hundred thousands of tonnes are sampled in this way. In the new method these data on size group composition are combined with biological samples with age readings in a similar way as with the traditional method using age at length keys. Comparisons between the new and the traditional sampling of the fishery suggest that the new method is more reliable, mostly due to the enormous amounts of size group samples used in the calculations. The ICES Northern Pelagic and Blue Whiting Fisheries Working Group has accepted the new method. There are also other useful commercial data on Norwegian spring spawning herring. One example is data on proximate composition (fat and water content) analysed at meal and oil factories and local processing plants, which could be used to analyse seasonal and annual variations in energy loss. Another example is data on individual weights and gonad weights, which could be used to assess the maturation process and reproductive investment using indexes like GSI. The mentioned data on size groups, proximate composition and GSI is also available for species like North Sea herring and mackerel. In addition data on size groups is available for ground&h like cod, saithe and haddock. However, the usefulness of these data remains to be evaluated

Religion, Human Rights, Juridification

Peer reviewe

"Rights, not Charity!" : On Vocabularies for Conceptualizing the Case of Persons with Disabilities

Peer reviewe

The Ministerial Exception : Theological and Legal Perspectives from Finland and Europe

Peer reviewe

Production process of carboxymethyl cellulose

Abstract. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is a widely used synthetic, powder-like chemical compound. It is used as an additive for its wide variety of attributes, perhaps most commonly for its ability to raise viscosity in a solution. CMC can be synthesized from many different cellulose sources, making it a rich and active field of study. The objective of this bachelor’s thesis was to build a process description of CMC production: identifying major factors causing variation within the production process, investigating major quality attributes and their control in the production, and examining the chemical phenomena involved within the materials and the synthesis of CMC. This bachelor’s thesis was based on literature reviews, published experimental studies, and information provided by various CMC manufacturers. The CMC production line from Nouryon in Äänekoski was used as an example of industrial level CMC production. The main factors causing variation in the production of CMC were found to be different cellulose sources and different target quality grades of CMC. It was concluded on the basis of this variation, that universal process conditions for CMC production do not exist. The most significant quality attributes were found to be solution viscosity, purity, and degree of substitution. The quality attributes were found to be affected by many different factors in different production steps. The etherification step was found to be a central production step affecting the quality attributes.Karboksyylimetyyliselluloosan valmistusprosessi. Tiivistelmä. Karboksyylimetyyliselluloosa (CMC) on laajalti käytetty synteettinen jauhemainen kemiallinen yhdiste. Sitä käytetään lisäaineena lukuisten ominaisuuksiensa vuoksi, joista yleisin lienee sen kyky nostaa liuoksen viskositeettia. CMC:tä voidaan syntetisoida lukuisista erilaisista selluloosalähteistä, mikä tekee siitä yleisen ja aktiivisen tutkimusalueen. Tämän kandidaatintutkielman tavoite oli muodostaa CMC:n valmistuksen prosessikuvaus: tunnistaa tärkeimmät tuotannollista vaihtelua aiheuttavat tekijät tuotantoprosessissa, tutkia keskeisiä laatuominaisuuksia ja selvittää, miten niitä hallitaan tuotannossa, sekä tutkia CMC:n materiaalien ja synteesin kemiallisia ilmiöitä. Tämä kandidaatintutkielma perustui kirjallisuuskatsauksiin, julkaistuihin kokeellisiin tutkimuksiin sekä useiden CMC-valmistajien tarjoamiin tietoihin. Nouryonin CMC-tuotantolinjaa Äänekoskella käytettiin esimerkkinä teollisen tason CMC-tuotannosta. Tärkeimmät tuotannon vaihtelua aiheuttavat tekijät CMC:n valmistuksessa havaittiin olevan erilaiset selluloosalähteet sekä CMC:n laatuluokitukset. Niiden perusteella pääteltiin, että CMC:n tuotannossa ei ole yleisiä prosessiolosuhteita. Merkittävimmät laatuominaisuudet katsottiin olevan liuosviskositeetti, puhtaus ja substituutioaste. Lukuisilla tekijöillä monissa osaprosesseissa havaittiin olevan vaikutusta laatuominaisuuksiin. Eetteröintivaiheen havaittiin olevan keskeinen laatuominaisuuksiin vaikuttava osaprosessi