Institutional Investor (September 17)
“As the global recession and financial crisis recede in the rearview mirror, companies have been acting more proactively in using their balance sheets in ways that enhance shareholder value. But we think they can do more…. By mid-2013, U.S. companies were sitting on cash that was equivalent to about 11 percent of their total assets, a three-decade high and earning almost nothing.” Fortunately, there are signs of change. Companies “have become more receptive to using debt to buy back shares, increase dividends and make acquisitions.”
Tags: Acquisitions, Assets, Balance sheets, Buybacks, Cash, Debt, Dividends, Financial Crisis, Recession, Shareholder value, Shares, U.S.
New York Times (September 17)
A proposal to create a 875,000-square-mile reserve around Antarctica is being whittled down by 40%. It shouldn’t be. “The reserves would protect what is still the most pristine aquatic ecosystem in existence, and they would extend to the ocean some of the international protection that the continent enjoys: the recognition that the south polar region is a world treasure, off limits to the frenzy of resource extraction playing out across the rest of the planet.”
Tags: Antarctica, Ecosystem, Existence, International protection, Ocean, Planet, Pristine, Resource extraction, World treasure
