OSIRIS. Internet QuickGuide

Transcription

1 OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing ( Last updated April 2004

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 OSIRIS INTRODUCTION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS GETTING STARTED SEARCHING OSIRIS SEARCHING BY COMPANY NAME SEARCHING BY IDENTIFICATION NUMBER SEARCHING BY GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION CRITERIA SEARCHING BY INDUSTRY SEARCHING BY NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES CRITERION SEARCHING BY FINANCIAL CRITERIA SEARCHING BY RATINGS SEARCHING BY OWNERSHIP SEARCHING BY M&A DEALS SEARCHING BY STOCK DATA SEARCHING BY EARNINGS ESTIMATE SEARCHING BY BUY/SELL RECOMMENDATION SEARCHING BY LISTED/UNLISTED SEARCHING BY ACTIVE/INACTIVE SEARCHING BY AUDITORS SEARCHING BY BOARD MEMBERS AND MANAGERS SEARCHING BY YEAR OF INCORPORATION SEARCHING BE ACCOUNTING DATA SEARCHING BY CORPORATE ACTIONS SEARCHING BY UPDATED REPORTS ADDITIONAL SEARCH OPTION SAVING STRATEGIES AND COMPANY SET SAVING SEARCH STRATEGIES SAVING A COMPANY SET DISPLAYING A LIST OF COMPANIES CREATING A NEW LIST FORMAT VIEWING COMPANY REPORTS VISUALISING A REPORT...ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED CREATING A REPORT FORMAT CREATING A REPORT LAYOUT RETRIEVING REPORT IMAGES EXPORTING INFORMATION OTHER USEFUL FEATURES CREATING CUSTOMISED ACCOUNTS CREATING USER DEFINED VARIABLES PEER REPORT PEER ANALYSIS STATISTICS USER SUPPORT...27 OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 2

3 1.0 OSIRIS Introduction OSIRIS is a comprehensive database of financial information, ratings, earnings estimates, stock data and news on global publicly listed companies, banks and insurance firms around the world. With coverage of over 125 countries, OSIRIS contains information on over companies. This data is sourced from a variety of Information Providers, each being an expert in its region or discipline 1. OSIRIS allows you to search by any combination of criteria including: geographic location, ownership, stock data, industry code or activity description, number of employees, statement items, ratios, ratings and more. The selected companies may be displayed or printed in a variety of customisable formats and exported to other applications such as word-processors, databases or spreadsheets. Company comparisons can be achieved using the Peer Analysis option while the Statistical Analysis option allows you to produce market sector reports. For further information and assistance with OSIRIS, please refer to the information in the Support section of the product, located in the upper right toolbar or visit for online tutorials and further documentation about OSIRIS System Requirements In order to use Internet OSIRIS, you will need the following: Windows 98 or higher with a minimum screen resolution of 800 X 600. Access to the Internet using either Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Navigator 4.0, or higher. A username and a password provided by Bureau van Dijk Getting Started 1. Start your browser and go to The following login screen will appear. 2. Enter your username and password in the appropriate boxes and click on OK to begin. 3. Upon entering the product, you will be presented with either the Quick Search or the Expert Search (depending on the option selected in your User Profile) screen. 4. If you see the screen shown below, you are viewing the Quick Search. This allows you to easily search using any combination of the eleven search criteria - Company Name, 1 The full list of Information Providers is available in the appendices of the OSIRIS Product User Guide. To view them, when you are logged into OSIRIS, click on the Support, select Product User Guide. Click on the Index tab and type in information providers. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 3

4 Ticker, Location, Industry, Size, Company Type, Ownership, Status, News, M&A Deals or Top Companies - in a single search step. 5. The Expert Search window, shown below, allows more search options, news, and segmentation tables. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 4

5 Tabs and icons across the top of the screen are defined below: Allows you to access the search criteria; displays a summary of criteria used. Displays the full reports for all retrieved companies. Enables you to compare the variables of a company to the variables of a given set of companies. Enables you to search for Reuter news articles by word, company, time period, industry, topic, region, country or language. Allows you to search through Datamonitor reports. Displays a list of companies identified by the search criteria Compares a subject company to its standard peer group Enables you to perform various types of analysis on one or more companies such as Aggregation, Distribution, Concentration, Linear Regression and Segmentation. Allows you to search for Edgar filings by word, company, time period or type. These filings are the registered filings that the company traded on the US exchange file with the SEC Allows you to the report, list or graph displayed to a specified address. Prints the page you are currently viewing. Provides online assistance to help you use OSIRIS Customizes your user preferences Sets alerts for new company reports, news, deals, and Global Reports scanned images. Enables you to export the data from OSIRIS to a chosen document. Deletes the entire search Ends the connection OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 5

6 2.0 Searching OSIRIS There are two types of searches available on internet OSIRIS: the Quick Search and the Expert Search. This OSIRIS QuickGuide will focus the Expert Search, which provides detailed search and analysis options. You can search OSIRIS using one or multiple criteria from the search options. Each criterion offers various options for targeting companies. After each search step is completed, the search criteria will be listed in the Search Summary window (see figure below). By default, the different steps are combined using the AND Boolean operator. This means that every item in the end result list complies with all the criteria simultaneously. The following search has selected all companies in the Middle Eastern region with Total Assets of minimum 100 million USD and a Long Term Fitch rating of A. 1. To delete a search step, click on the next to the step you wish to remove. 2. To modify a search step, click the next to the step you wish to change. 3. You can also choose to activate/deactivate a search step by ticking/un-ticking the checkbox of the corresponding step. 4. The first column, Step result, details the number of companies on the entire database that meet the individual search step. For example, step 3 found 383 companies with a Long-Term Fitch rating of A in the OSIRIS database. 5. The second column, Search result, details the number of companies that satisfy the criteria of all the search steps specified up to that point. For example, 13 companies satisfy all search steps up to and including step The search logic can also be modified using the Boolean options; All ANDs, All ORs, Other Boolean Search. Using All Ors for example means that the companies in the end list will comply with at least one of the criterion. Using the Other Boolean Search, you can combine or exclude search steps by entering the operators AND, OR, AND NOT as well as parenthesis where needed between search steps then clicking OK at the end of the line. For example, the logic 1 AND NOT (2 AND 3) will retrieve all companies satisfying step 1 and exclude those that also satisfy both steps 2 and 3. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 6

7 2.1 Searching by Company Name This search option allows you to search for a company or companies by entering a letter or a string of characters to select companies containing the exact name entered as well as those beginning with the same string of characters. 1. Click Company name from the list of search criteria and enter a letter, a string of characters or several strings of characters corresponding to a company s name, previous name or the beginning of a name in the available text box. 2. Click Search, the index of company names will refresh displaying all the companies matching the text entered. Note that the search is made not only on the words in the corporate name, but also on initials and acronyms. 3. When you highlight a company name, you can view its snapshot in the upper right corner. This will help you decide if you have highlighted the company you need. 4. Highlight the company required and click (to select several companies, hold down the Shift or Ctrl key first). All selected companies will be sent to the selected area. Repeat the above process to find and select as many companies as necessary. Alternatively, if you want to select all the companies corresponding to the text you entered, just click on. 5. Clicking OK activates the search step and displays the Search Summary screen 2. From there, you can view and manage the search criteria and display the results. 2 Please note that when searching by Company name as a first step, from the user profile menu under the tab Configuration, you have the option to go to the Report, List or Search Summary screen after having completed this search step. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 7

8 2.2. Searching by Identification number This search option allows you to search for a company using different company identification numbers that are commonly used by many sources. The following list is available: Ticker symbol: This is the code used to identify listed companies on the security exchanges where they are traded. WVB number: This is the ID number that is attributed to every company provided by Wold Vest Base database. ISIN number: The International Securities Identification Number is the standardized alphanumerical code identification for securities and other financial instruments. SEDOL number: The Stock Exchange Daily Official List number is the code used on the London Stock Exchange to identify traded securities. Valor number: The Swiss Valor Numbers are used to identify all securities traded on the Swiss market. CIK number: The Central Index Key is a unique number assigned by the SEC distinguishing all foreign and US companies that are traded in the US. BvD ID number: Every company available on at least one of the Bureau van Dijk products is assigned a BvD ID Number. The same company available on different products is assigned with the same BvD ID Number. The search methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. of this document, Searching by company name. To review the methodology click here Searching by Geographic Location Criteria This search option allows you to search for companies using the place of their incorporation as the search criteria. 1. To search for companies using geographic criteria, click Geographic Location from the list of search criteria. Select the specific item you require from the available search options (World Region/Country or City). 2. If you select World Region/Country The following screen will appear: Click the next to an option in the list to view its subset. Click the to collapse the list To remove a selected option, unmark it by clicking the associated checkbox 3. Select the specific region or regions you wish to use by checking the tick box next to them 4. Click on OK and the search will be displayed in the Search Summary screen. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 8

9 NOTE: When searching by World Regions, two types of regions are available: Geographic and Political/Economic. In terms of search, the main difference is that no one company can be listed under different geographical region, they are mutually exclusive sets (e.g. a French company will only be present in the Europe (Excl. Eastern Europe) set). However, when searching by economic/political region one company can be listed in different sets (e.g. A French company will be present in the OECD, European Union, Euro Area, G7 and G10 sets). If you search by City, the search methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. of this document, Searching by company name. To review the methodology click here Searching by Industry This search option allows you to search for companies by activity. It allows you to search by: Text Search: Searches for up to three key words describing an activity in different sections available in the OSIRIS database (Summary Business Description, Description and History, Description in Other Languages). Banks/ Insurance/ Industrial cos.: Allows you to search for companies organised in the three categories. Each category is subdivided in different templates. The search methodology for this option is similar to the one explained in section 2.3. Searching by Geographic Location Criteria. To review the methodology, click here. Dow Jones Global Indices: Search for companies using the Dow Jones Global Index by Industry group Rollup Structure, Name of Groups and Subgroups at the lowest level or Dow Jones Codes. US SIC: NAICS 2002: NACE Rev 1.1: Search for companies using the Standard Industrial Classification of the United States. This is a 4-digit code used to categorize and uniquely identify business activities. Search for companies using the North American Industry Classification System. It is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico and the United-States in order to provide common definitions of the industrial structure in the three countries. Search for companies using the European Union s industry classification system. NOTE: By default, OSIRIS will search for companies using their primary activity code i.e. only company s primary activity is taken into account. However, if you wish to search for companies by taking into account all the activities they endeavor, on the bottom left of the screen select the radio button next to All Code. The search methodology for the last four options when using the hierarchical table is similar to the one explained in section 2.3. Searching by Geographic Location Criteria. To review it, click here. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 9

10 The search methodology when using the alphabetical or code list is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. Searching by Company Name. To review the methodology, click here. Business line (as reported): Search for companies using a key word that should be found in the business line. The search methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. of this document, Searching by company name. To review the methodology click here Searching by Employees This search option allows you to search for companies using the Employees criterion. You may search on value, growth rate or rate of decline of employment for a given year or over several years. You can select companies by basing your search on user defined intervals, distribution of the variable or choice of top N companies. You may also use estimates of the variable when it is non-available. 1. To search for companies using the Number of Employees criteria, click Employees from the list of search criteria. The following screen will appear: Click here to use estimates when value is n.a. Click here to select the top N (0<N<501) companies you desire. 2. Complete all areas of the search window, including parameters for years, values, percentages or quartiles. For example if you want to find all companies in the database that have had a minimum 5% growth in employment per year over the past 3 years using estimates when the data is non-available, select: Click on the check box corresponding to use estimates when value is n.a. The growth rate radio button The radio button Several Years Tick the boxes next to the year/period you would like to include. In this example we want our condition to be valid for every selected year so click the radial button corresponding to all selected years. Choose if you want to use Absolute or Relative years. The main difference between them in terms of search is that the first one will OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 10

11 retrieve all companies whose statement are available for the selected period(s) whereas the later will retrieve all companies complying with your criteria in relation to the last available statement in the database (e.g. 0Y/-1Y corresponds to the period in between the next to last available statement and the last available statement). Next choose the criteria you would like to use to select companies. In this example, the user defined intervals criterion is used so type 5 in the minimum value field. The following screen summarizes this search: 3. Click on OK and the search will be displayed in the Search Summary screen Searching by Financial Criteria Financial data on OSIRIS is presented in three categories and seven templates reflecting the differences in accounting for industrial companies, banks, and insurance firms. In addition, OSIRIS contains six Key Financials, six Key Ratios and a Number of employees figure that are independent of template and valid across country borders and industries. For all templates, OSIRIS presents financials in a Raw data format and at least two additional levels of standardized formats (labelled Global format, Global detailed format and Spreadsheet format). The standardised formats visibly link from the Raw data format through the levels of standardised formats with a unique unfolding account presentation, enabling users to easily follow the accounting logic. This account presentation strategy facilitates searching and analytical comparisons between countries and geographic regions, while maintaining a high level of data transparency and accuracy. Presenting accounts according to type of institution and regional practices also helps ensure complete data clarity and accuracy on OSIRIS. Using standardised formats assists those users primarily concerned with peer group and cross-border study without sacrificing accuracy or detail. Please see OSIRIS Product User Guide under the Support option in the software for more details on each format and their inter-connexions. This search option follows the same logic as the search based on Employees. However, using estimates of a variable when it is non-available is only available for Operating revenue/turnover. To review the methodology, click here. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 11

12 2.7. Searching by Ratings For the Ratings module subscribers, it is possible to screen OSIRIS on any specific rating from Fitch, Moody s and Standard & Poor s. For a full description of the different ratings, please refer to the Product User Guide available in the Support option on the online OSIRIS software. 1. To search by ratings, just click on Ratings from the list of search criteria. 2. Choose the type of rating you want and then check the boxes next to the desired rating from the screen that is displayed. NOTE: By default, searches only retrieve companies that are currently rated. You may also include in your search, companies that are not currently rated but were rated at a previous date by simply unchecking the box Only Active Ratings. When viewing a report of a company that are no longer rated, a text has been added along with the last rating provided by the agency Searching by Ownership Bureau van Dijk s internal ownership research department compiles ownership data for many BvD products, including OSIRIS. As of March 2004, 24,700 companies included on OSIRIS contain at least one shareholder or subsidiary, with 22,600 companies containing shareholder data and 18,400 companies presenting subsidiary information. The basic information contained in this database is processed and analysed in order to: Qualify companies according to their degree of independence with regard to their shareholders; List the direct shareholders of a given company with their percentage of ownership; Indicate, if any, the Ultimate Owner of a given company; List the direct and indirect subsidiaries of a given company together with their percentage of ownership; Qualify such direct and indirect subsidiaries with regard to their ownership status (Ultimately Owned, Controlled, by the given company). The ownership data on OSIRIS can be screened on multiple criteria including: Ownership Status (i.e. Independent/ Dependent companies based on their BvD Independence Indicator, companies recorded as Ultimate Owner or Companies Owned by an U.O.) When searching by companies recorded as Ultimate Owners and Companies Owned by an U.O, the methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.3. For the others, just tick the appropriate boxes and/or radio buttons and click OK to validate your choices. Shareholders (i.e. Name, Country and Name, Type and % of ownership) Subsidiaries (i.e. Name, Country and Name, Type and % of ownership) When searching by Name or Country and Name in the last two options, the methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. For the others, just tick the appropriate boxes and click OK to validate your choices. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 12

13 Affiliates of selected companies When searching by affiliates of a given cos. the methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. For the others it is a direct search. For a more detailed document regarding the collection and presentation of the ownership data on Bureau van Dijk products, please check the BvD support site on Searching by M&A deals Searching by M&A Deals allows users to select companies based on the information contained in ZEPHYR. ZEPHYR is a database of M&A, IPO and venture capital deals, with pan-european transactions dating back to 1997 and US deals from When using this search option you will retrieve all companies depending on whether they are an acquirer, a target and/or a vendor company, whether it is based on a rumoured, announced and/or completed deal. You can select the period in which the deal, the deal-value and the type of deal took place. For more information regarding the Mergers & Acquisitions database, please refer to the BvD support site Searching by Stock Data The Stock Data is collected by Fininfo and covers data from 1996 till today. The main search criteria on stock data comprise: Stock Exchange where the securities are listed, with possible limitation to the main exchange. This search option follows the same logic as the one explained in section 2.3. Searching be Geographical Location. To review it click here Stock Indices: either tick the box next to the stock indices you desire or enter a word and then select the indices desired Market capitalization, current or historic P/E ratio, Closing price and volume traded, on a weekly or monthly basis Per share data: sales per share, dividend per share, EPS, etc Number of outstanding shares These search options follow the same logic as the search based on Employees. However, using estimates of a variable when it is nonavailable is not possible. To review the methodology, click here. IPO date: enter an inferior and/or superior date limit. You also have the option to include de-listed companies in the search Searching by Earnings Estimates This information is provided by JCF International which gathers estimates and recommendations from analysts. The recommendations indicate JCF s presentation of the average of all the scores given by analysts (they are not an evaluation made by JCF itself). JCF calculates consensus using only those EPS estimates changed or actively validated within the last 75 days. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 13

14 Searching by Earnings Estimates is available to users who subscribe to the Detailed Earnings Estimates module. The search criteria include: P/E Ratio, No. of revised EPS estimates, Changes of EPS estimates, No. of EPS estimates. This search option follows the same logic as the search based on Employees. To review the methodology, click here Searching by Buy/Sell Recommendations This search option includes recommendations based on consensus opinion, number of recommendations and Evolution of recommendations. This search option follows the same logic as the search based on Employees. To review the methodology, click here Searching by Listed/Unlisted In this search option you can search for companies using three criteria: Listed, Unlisted and De-listed. This is a direct search. All you have to do is click on one of the radio buttons from the window that appears and click on OK. The search results will be retrieved immediately Searching by Active/Inactive This search option allows you to select companies according to their status (Active, Active but no longer with accounts in OSIRIS, Active (receivership), Bankruptcy, Dissolved (merger), Dissolved (demerger), In liquidition or Inactive). The search methodology is similar to the on explained in section Searching by Auditors Allows you to select companies by Auditor s name or Auditor report qualification (unqualified, qualified, unaudited, no opinion and adverse opinion). When you search by Auditor s name, if you type in Deloitte & Touche for example, you will retrieve all companies audited by Deloitte & Touche. The search methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. of this document, Searching by company name. To review the methodology click here. When searching by Auditor s report qualification just tick the box(es) corresponding to the qualification(s) desired and click Ok to retrieve the corresponding companies Searching by Board Members and Managers This search option allows you to search for companies by member of the board or managers. For example, if you type Alex Smith, you will retrieve all the companies where Alex Smith is Manager and/or Board member. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 14

15 The search methodology is similar to the one explained in section 2.1. of this document, Searching by company name. To review the methodology click here Searching by Year of Incorporation As the title of the search option indicates, you can search for companies according to their date of incorporation. There are two available fields to enter a date: On and after and/or Up to and including. To select a single date, enter the same figure in the two fields. You can also include de-listed companies in your search by clicking on the box next to include delisted companies Searching be Accounting data This option allows you to search for companies by discriminating on the available accounts. The different options are: Consolidation Codes: C1 (Consolidated accounts, no unconsolidated companion), C2/U2 (Consolidated accounts with an unconsolidated companion) and/or U1 (Unconsolidated accounts, no consolidated companion). Template: please refer to the Product User Guide for more information Reported Currency Companies with preliminary data Years of last available accounts Years with available accounts Number of years with available accounts Closing month of account Companies with additional accounts: most of these are non-us industrial companies whose securities are traded on US exchanges as ADRs (American deposit Receipt). These additional accounts are sourced by Multex, with SEC filings as the main data source Searching by Corporate Actions The complete list of events since 2001 as well as additional details and company search possibilities on the events are available for users who subscribe to the additional Corporate Actions module. You can search for companies using events that have occurred since 2001 during a userdefined time period. The data covers up to 42 types of events, regrouped in 6 main categories, ranging from company meetings to capital change events. The search methodology is similar to the one explained in section. 2.3 of this document, Searching by Geographic Location. However you can also do a text search if you choose to view the alphabetical list. To review the methodology click here Searching by Updated Reports OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 15

16 Here you can select all the companies present in the OSIRIS database whose accounts have been updated since the past week, past two weeks or past month. You can also select recently added companies in OSIRIS or companies who have encountered changes in variables such as Name, Fitch Rating, Shareholder information, etc Additional Search Option At the top of your screen there are three icons (,, ) letting subscribers search for (in order) Reuter News stories, Edgar Online Filings and Datamonitor Reports. In addition, users can also search for companies using these tabs. Indeed after searching for the story, filing or report, you can retrieve the mentioned companies in selected articles, filings or reports that have been found. To search for companies using Reuter News follow the subsequent procedure. The methodology is the same for the three options. 1. Reuters News subscribers can click on one of the Reuters News icon ( ) at the top the screen to search for companies in news stories. You can search for news by World, Companies, Industry, Topic, Region, Country and Language. Click on one or more of the following tabs and complete the relevant search window(s). 2. Click Search to retrieve the stories complying with the criteria entered 3. The following screen will be displayed: 3 Stories are only available over the last two months OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 16

17 3. From there on you can either refine your search by clicking on the Refine Search tab, execute a brand new search by clicking on the New Search tab, view an article from the list 4 by clicking on in it (this will cost you credits) or retrieve companies mentionned in articles. 4. At this point you can retrieve companies mentioned in the stories by clicking on Select companies. Either choose all stories, marked stories, unmarked stories or enter the range of stories for which you want the mentioned companies to be retrieved. 5. Click on Select to complete the search. The Search Summary showing the criteria used and the options to continue your search or display the search results. Please note that you will not be able to modify this search step. NOTE: At any time during this process (while viewing the list of stories found or while viewing a particular article) you can export information to a predefined format by clicking on the export tab Saving Strategies and Company Set This section briefly outlines how you can save your work by saving a Search Strategy or a Company Set Saving Search Strategies Any sequence of search steps (a Search Strategy) can be saved and reused at a later date. Doing this allows you to monitor companies that meet your criteria each month when you receive a new update of OSIRIS. Results may differ from month to month as each company s accounts are updated 1. Perform all the required search steps and display the Search Summary. 2. Click Save a Search at the bottom right of your screen. The following screen will appear: Check this box if you want to include the companies in the search strategy in the Alert System 4 Please note that when viewing a story you can view the available report of any company mentioned in the story by clicking on the company s name OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 17

18 3. Click on Save if you want to save your search strategy to the OSIRIS server or on Save to Disk if you want to place the file on your computer or network. Specify where you want to save it and give a name to the strategy. The file will be saved with the extension.srh. 4. As mentioned in the figure above, you can include this search strategy in the Alert System. If you choose to do this you will only be able to save to the OSIRIS server. Specify the alert criteria and click on OK to validate To use this strategy later, choose Load a search from the search criteria list on the left of the screen, and select the strategy you want to load from the list by clicking it and selecting Load. Alternatively, click Load from disk to select one you have saved on your computer or network Saving a Company Set A company set differs from a search strategy because it saves not the search criteria but the companies produced by the search criteria i.e. loading the set at a later date will NOT produce different results. The saved set is specific to the companies matching your search criteria and will not be affected as company information is updated on OSIRIS. 1. Perform all the search steps need to retrieve your company set. Display the Summary Search. 2. Click Save a File at the bottom right of your screen. The following screen will appear: Click here if you want the set of companies to be saved as a Peer Group Choose the extension of the saved company set 3. Click on Save if you want to save your company set to the OSIRIS server or on Save to Disk if you want to place the file on your computer or network. Specify where you want to save it, give a name to the strategy. You can choose the extension of the file:.osi: will save the list of companies using their BvD Id number.isi: will save the list of companies using their ISIN Id number.tic: will save the list of companies using their Ticker number 5 You can also click on configuration. From this screen you choose to which address you would like to receive your alert, the format and the frequency OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 18

19 .wvb: will save the companies using their WVB Id number 4. To use this company set later, choose Load a company file from the search criteria Displaying a List of Companies At any time during a search it is possible to display the full list of the companies matching your search criteria by clicking on the List tab in the frame at the top of your screen. 1. Clicking on the company name will take you into the report. 2. Click the check box to the left of the company name to mark companies for selection. This will allow you to delete companies using the Delete button. It will also mark companies to select them for export with the Export button or send you an alert through your using the Alert button. 3. Sort companies in the List using the Sort button or by clicking (when available) on the column heading you wish to sort by. 4. Icons to the left of the company name allow you to access (from left to right) the Standard Financial Report, Peer Report, Datamonitor Industry Reports, Global Reports scanned images, Edgar Filings, and Reuters News Creating a New List Format List formats refer to the items of company data displayed to the right of each company name in the list. Many user-defined list formats, each with various data items, can be created and stored for later use. 1. Whilst viewing a list of selected companies, click the Format button at the bottom right of the screen. A list of saved previous saved formats will be displayed. If you never saved a format before, only the standard format is available. Click on New to create a new format. The following screen will be displayed: OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 19

20 2. From the drop-down lists, you may choose a specific pre-defined template in the template pull-down menu. If you would like to retrieve financial variables specific to one model select a specific model. However, if you would like to retrieve information that is not linked to a particular account type, choose All Templates. After choosing among the different section with the data you wish to add, highlight the items you desire and send them to the Selected fields area using the key. Repeat this process until all required items are selected 3. Type a name into the Format name text box to retrieve it easily at a future date. Click Save and the new format will be added to the list of available formats. 4. You can select the time periods for financial variables by selecting the year (absolute or relative) and interim data as well as choose the currency unit. 5. Click on OK to return to the List (presented in your new format). Your new format will be added to the list of formats. 6. At any time while viewing a List, you can access and modify your list formats by clicking on Format. NOTE: You can include User Defined Variables (UDVs) and Customised Accounts in your list format. For more details on UDVs and Customised Accounts, please refer to Chapter 7.0 of this document, or click here Viewing Company Reports At any time during a search it is possible to display the full information available for the companies in your search by clicking the Company Report tab at the top of your screen. In the menu on the left of the screen, you can view individual Report Sections. This menu includes the following main sections of information: Header Ratings Industry/Activities Segment Data Financial & Ratios Customers & competitors Text Statements & Reports Board members & Managers Auditors & Advisors Stock data/earnings estimates Corporate Actions & Dividends Mergers & Acquisitions Shareholders Subsidiaries (Roll-up) Subsidiaries (Alphabetical) News section OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 20

21 Click here to display list of all report sections. 1. Below you will find listed the function of all the icons at the bottom of your screen: View summary in three possible formats: financial, descriptive or combined View default or current Peer Report Retrieve PDF version of Annual Report (interim or quarterly) in the Online Reports Library from Global Reports Retrieve the available SEC files (Edgar Online) Access the industry report(s) (Datamonitor) associated with the company Allows you to visualise the report using the Anacubis Viewer (see section 5.1.) Allows you to access different graphs and tables Allows you to adjust the years and currency of the report Allows you choose which information section you desire to include in a company report Allows you to setup a new data alert for the company Allows you to access the help menu of the report section 5.1. Creating a Report Format Report formats refer to the section of information included in a company report such as Header, Financial Ratios, Cash Flow Statements, Shareholders, Subsidiaries, etc. Individual sections of a company report, or combinations of them, may be viewed by creating Report formats. 1. To create a new report format, first display a report by clicking the Company Report tab at the top of your screen. 2. Click the Format button at the bottom of the screen. A list of individual report sections will be displayed. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 21

22 Click OK to view the selected report section format 3. To create a new Report Format, click New. In the list, highlight the section you need and click to move them to the selected sections list. If necessary, repeat this process until all required sections are selected. 4. Type a name into the Format Name text box to retrieve it easily at a future date. If you do not enter a name for your formats OSIRIS will automatically name them format0, format1 etc 5. Click the Save button: your new format will be added to the list of available formats. At any time you while viewing a Report, you can access and modify your report formats by clicking on Format. NOTE: After saving your new format you will be redirected to the Available Format screen. If you want your new format to be used as the default format, click on the newly created format and check the box keep this format as your current format Creating a Report Layout Report layouts refer to the columns of accounting data displayed in a company report. The default layout shows the years of accounts in the filing currency. Defining a layout lets you specify the displayed years, the order of years and the currency. 1. Display the report by clicking Report from the frame at the top of your screen. Click the Layout button at the bottom of the screen. A list of predefined layouts will appear. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 22

23 Displays available annual accounting data for the past 10 years plus all interim data since the latest annual report Displays the 2 latest annual accounting data plus all the interim data for 2 years 2. Click the New button, highlight one or more years (absolute or relative) and click to transfer them to the Selected years column list. 3. To view the layout in a currency other than the default one, mark the appropriate radial button and choose the currency before transferring the data to the selected years list. 4. Type a name into the Layout name text box to retrieve it easily at a future date. If you do not enter a name for the layouts, OSIRIS will automatically name them layout0, etc 5. Click the Save button: your new layout will be added to the list of layouts. At any time whilst viewing a report, you can access and modify your report layouts by clicking on Layout 5.4. Retrieving Report Images OSIRIS provides access to Global Reports PDF images of annual and interim company reports. 1. Click the globe icon ( )from the bottom of the Report screen and a list of the available reports will open in a new Global Reports window. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 23

24 2. Simply click on the report desired to open the PDF version of the document. 3. Viewing a report of the ongoing year will cost you ten credits and viewing a report of a previous year will cost you 25 credits Exporting Information OSIRIS enables you to export to other software programs, including spreadsheets, word processors and ASCII formats. Exports can be performed for Lists, Graphs, Company Reports 1. First, display your search results by clicking the appropriate tab. 2. Click the Export button at the top right of your screen, select the format and data to be exported. Once the window is complete, click Export to transfer the data. To export a range of companies from a list, type the numbers corresponding to the number in front of the company name in the List view. To export a specific company from the Report view, type in the number that appears in the left of your report screen. OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 24

25 NOTE: It is the information from the window that you were viewing that is exported. For example when clicking on Export while viewing a list of companies, you are exporting the list and not all the companies reports Other Useful Features In addition to the possibilities of searching for companies, viewing their information and then exporting it, OSIRIS offers users various features offering advanced customisation display options and sophisticated analytical tools Creating Customised Accounts Creating Customized Accounts allows you to create user-defined financial reports by selecting individual variables in report sections. You can access this option from the Profile button placed on the upper right hand side of your screen. You can choose the account template you want to work with. Your choice will modify the list of available variables. Please note that you cannot combine different templates (i.e. if you wish to use more than one template, you have to create one customized format per template) It is not possible to include ownership data, board member information or text data. However you can create a report format including report sections with text data and one or more customized formats. In addition, you also have the possibility to create User Defined Variables (UDVs) from the variables you chose to include in your customized report. Please note that this variable will only be available in your customized report Creating User Defined Variables Users can create their own variables or ratios using the lines of any format. These User Defined Variables can be included in the Report, in the List and within Peer and Statistical Analyses. The User Defined Variables can also be used as search criteria or sorting key in the lists Peer Report A Peer Report on OSIRIS is associated to a Subject Company and is a combination of a Peer Group 6, a Set of variables, Report Format. There are two ways of constructing a Peer Report using the Standard Peer Report or constructing the report through the Peer Analysis module (see section 7.4.) The main components defining a Standard Peer Report s are: The Peer Group: The set of variables: The Standard Peer Group is constructed of 4, 10 or 20 regional, national or international companies and are selected according to their template and Dow Jones industrial activity code These are pre-determined to be 6 account items and 6 ratios (the variables are dependent on the template used for the subject company). 6 For more information on Peer Groups, please refer to the Product User Guide under the Support option on the OSIRIS software OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 25

26 The format, 2 formats are available: - Format 1: Displays the values of the 12 variables for each of the companies. This format is not available if the Peer Group includes more than 20 companies. - Format 2: Displays the values of the 12 variables for the subject company and the median of the group. The Standard Peer Report associated to any company can instantly be viewed by clicking on the appropriate icon when a list of companies or a Company Report is displayed. You can also create a Custom Peer Report by choosing you own Peer Group and selecting specific variables Peer Analysis A Peer Analysis compares the variables of any company in the set to the median, the average, the quartiles and the deciles of a given set of companies. The subject company may or may not belong to the specified Peer Group and the set of companies selected must not exceed 500. The Peer Analysis is particularly useful for those wishing to individually select variables and companies for the peer group study, rather than using the semi-automatic process of the Standard Peer Report. For more detail about such distinction, please refer to section 3.3 "Peer Groups/Peer Reports" of the Product User guide available on the OSIRIS software under the Help menu. The Peer Analysis button offers three analytical options, enables the user to construct an analysis by selecting individual companies and then specifying the variables of interest. The peer analyses are: - A company compared with a set of companies - 1 to 3 companies compared with a set of companies - A company compared with 1 to 20 companies In the first case, the user may select a comparison with the Standard Peer Group, the group of companies from the current search, or a saved set of companies. When selecting either of the last two options, the user is presented with a search window in which to select the comparison companies. Each type of Peer Analysis can be customized according to user-specified currency, variables and years. Information displayed can include median, average and standard deviation of the group, quartiles and deciles, ranking. Results may be presented in tables or graphs Statistics This type of analysis studies a group of companies without bringing to the fore any particular company. This option can be used to perform analyses regarding a target group of companies (up to 500) in a country, industry, or other type of peer group in the selected set of companies. The Statistical Analysis options include: Segmentation: Can be performed on a group of companies of any size, organizing the companies into a table with two axes. The user selects the OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 26

27 variables and can modify the resulting table by changing the descriptive variable, the years, swapping the axes and calculating the figures in terms of percentages and penetration indices Aggregation: Combines the accounts for a group of selected companies, presenting the sum of each line and year from the accounts. The result is a virtual company consisting of all the companies in the group of studied companies. Distribution: Analyses the distribution of a single selected variable for a group of companies. The Distribution of the variable within the group can be displayed graphically. Concentration: Ranks the companies, in decreasing order, according to the values for a given variable and calculates the cumulative values of the variable. The results can be shown with a Pie chart or Lorenz curve. Linear regression: Analyses the correlation between two variables for a group of studied companies. A graph of the regression is also available. Please note that, in order to be able to perform significant statistical analyses, all the statements included in a group of companies should belong to the same template. Selecting the template All templates provides an analysis based on only the Key financials, Key ratios and Number of employees User Support Bureau van Dijk offers all users full support for both data and technical questions. For assistance, please visit our client support website or contact your account manager or the nearest Bureau van Dijk office: Location Telephone Austria help.wien@bvdep.com 43 (1) Belgium: help.brussels@bvdep.com 32 (2) Eastern Europe: help.bratislava@bvdep.com 421 (2) France: help.paris@bvdep.com 33 (01) Germany: help.frankfurt@bvdep.com 49 (69) Italy: help.milan@bvdep.com 39 (02) Japan: help.tokyo@bvdep.com 81 (3) Netherlands help.amsterdam@bvdep.com 31 (20) Portugal: help.madrid@bvdep.com Scandinavia: help.scandinavia@bvdep.com 44 (20) Singapore: help.singapore@bvdep.com Spain: help.madrid@bvdep.com Switzerland: help.geneva@bvdep.com United Kingdom: help.london@bvdep.com 44 (20) United States: help.newyork@bvdep.com 1 (212) OSIRIS Internet QuickGuide Copyright 2004 Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing 27