Economic profitability analysis of husk tomato (Physalis ixocarpa Brot. ex Hornem.) under different silicon dioxide concentrations

Objective: To evaluate the effect of different doses of foliar and soil silicon dioxide fertilization on the economic profitability of husk tomato (Physalis ixocarpa Brot. ex Hornem.) cv. 'Querétaro' cultivation under plastic paddings and macro-tunnel conditions. Design/methodology/approach: Ten treatments were evaluated at different concentrations of silicon dioxide fertilization on soil and foliar application: T1: Control treatment (T), T2: Fertilization with silicon dioxide 20, 40, 60 g on soil and 100, 150, and 200 ppm foliar (S20/100F), T3: S20/150F, T4: S20/200F, T5: S40/100F, T6: S40/150F, T7: S40/200F, T8: S60/100F, T9: S60/150F and T10: S60/200, distributed in random blocks. Economic profitability indicators such as Benefit/Cost ratio (B/C), Net Present Value (NPV), and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) were determined. Results: The research established that the S60/150F treatment was the one with the highest economic profitability because it promoted the highest production per hectare, which was reflected in the NPV (MX$ 336,932.97 pesos), the IRR (77.3 %), and a B/C of MX$ 1.16 pesos. Also, treatments S40/200F and S60/100F (where SiO2 was applied) reported positive cash flow, unlike the T. Limitations of the study/implications: With all research facilities closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no evidence related to the contribution of foliar and soil silicon bioassay has been verified. Findings/conclusions: Using SiO2 leads to a financial appreciable rebound of vital importance to be included in economic studies to facilitate the efficient management of the available capital to establish a crop whose field productivity is profitable for the producers.

Pengujian Pola Siklus Arus Kas dalam Memprediksi Kebangkrutan

The pattern of cash flow from operating, investing, and financing activities of each company is one of the important information for many parties, especially in predicting company performance and the probability of bankruptcy. The cash flow pattern used in this study uses 8 forms of cash flow patterns. The data collected consisted of 96 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange with an observation period of 2010 to 2019. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there are differences in any cash flow patterns between companies that went bankrupt and those that did not. This study further aims to prove the cash flow patterns of operating, investing, and financing activities can be used to predict the probability of bankruptcy. The results prove that there are significant differences in cash flow patterns between companies that have gone bankrupt and those that are not. The results of further research prove that the company has the greatest probability of bankruptcy when the company has negative operating cash flows, positive cash flows from investing activities and positive cash flows from financing activities. Furthermore, the company experiences the probability of bankruptcy when the company has negative operating and investing cash flows with positive cash flows from financing activities. The company does not have a probability of bankruptcy when the company has positive operating cash flow with negative investment cash flow and positive cash flow from financing activities. Keywords: Bankruptcy, Cash Flow Pattern, Cash Flow from Operating, Cash Flow from Investing, and Cash Flow from Financing

Level of Financial Performance of Selected Construction Companies in South Africa

Purpose—There is no consensus on the indicators that assess a construction company’s financial performance projects undertaken. There is also a dearth of concepts on the financial performance indicators for construction companies in South Africa and indeed, the wider continent of Africa. This paper proposes novel financial performance indicators for assessing construction organizations and tests these on selected construction companies in the South African construction industry. Design/methodology/approach—This research employed a pragmatic approach. Contractors with financial credibility and capacity of ≥R 40 million, annual turnover of ≥R 20 million, and available capital of ≥R 40 million were purposively selected for this study. Parameters such as total revenue, direct cost of work, total indirect cost and total income were elicited from the sample contractors to assess their financial performance. The assessment was undertaken using formulas that were formulated based on the descriptions provided under the research methodology. Further analysis was conducted using post hoc Tukey’s honest significant difference (HSD). Findings—The study finds that construction companies with a strong structure, multiple areas of specialization, creative and efficient staff members, and access to funding, have a greater chance of experiencing higher: income; positive leverage; positive liquidity; and positive cash flow. Moreover, companies with specialization in civil engineering construction and project management skills experienced higher positive liquidity and profitability. Originality/value—This research is unique through its investigation and formulation of indicators for assessing the financial performance of construction companies. This research is consequently representing the first attempt to analyze financial data using the approaches prescribed and adopted.

Integrated Approach to Produced Water Disposal Management in a Brown Field: Safeguarding Production, Reducing Cost, Managing Deferment & Reducing HSSE Exposure

Often, the production of oil and gas from underground reservoirs is accompanied by produced water which generally increases with time for a matured field, attributable to natural water encroachment, bottom water ingress, coning effect due to higher production rates, channeling effects, etc. This trend poses a production challenge with respect to increased OPEX cost and environmental considerations of treatment/handling and disposal of the produced water considering the late life performance characterized by low reward margins. Hence, produced water management solutions that reduce OPEX cost is key to extending the field life whilst ensuring a positive cash flow for the asset. SK field is located in the Swamp Area of the Niger Delta, with a capacity of 1.1Bcf gas plant supplying gas to a nearby LNG plant. Oil and gas production from the field is evacuated via the liquid and gas trunk lines respectively. Due to the incessant tampering with oil delivery lines and environmental impact of spillage, the condensate is spiked through the gas trunk line to the LNG plant. Largely, the water/effluent contained in the tank is evacuated through the liquid line. Based on the availability of the liquid line (ca. 40%-60%), the produced water is a constraint to gas production with estimated tank endurance time (ca. 8 days at 500MMscfd). This leads to creaming of gas production and indeed gas deferments due to produced water management, making it difficult to meet the contractual supply obligation to the LNG plant. An interim solution adopted was to barge the produced water to the oil and gas export terminal, with an associated OPEX cost of ca. US$2Mln/month. Upon further review of an alternate barging option, this option was considered too expensive, inefficient and unsustainable with inherent HSSE exposure. Therefore, a produced water re-injection project was scoped and executed as a viable alternative to produced water management. This option was supported by the Regulators as a preferred option for produced water management for the industry.

A Nucleolus-Based Quota Allocation Model for the Bitcoin-Refunded Blockchain Network

The Bitcoin operates in a Blockchain network under which a group of participants are responsible for adding new blocks into the chain. These participants are called miners and the ones that successfully add a block into the network receive a reward for their work. As the technology evolved over the years, this "mining" process has become more challenging with miners facing long periods without positive cash flow, while still having costs associated. This resulting business architecture has driving participants away from the technology, jeopardizing its operations, and defying its progression. In order to cope with this issue, an alternative to provide miners' financial sustainability is to join a mining pool, which main purpose is to mitigate this cash flow sparsity by sharing the (more-recurrent) rewards obtained by the group. Therefore, in this work, we propose a reward sharing methodology for mining pools based on the Nucleolus of a stochastic cooperative game. A risk-averse value functional based on the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) is used to characterize the game's certainty equivalent. Two numerical experiments were conducted in this work: (i) one based on a small, illustrative network; and (ii) one derived from real data of the Bitcoin-refunded Blockchain network. The focus of the experiments is on the incremental value of the proposed methodology over using intuitive allocations (uniform and based on computational power) and in what extent the relative increase in the mining likelihood by playing as a group benefits the pool stability. Finally, we discuss and numerically analyze a nested procedure based on the proposed Nucleolus-based allocation seeking for higher "fairness" in sharing the pool rewards.

Run To End: The Way We Manage Our Late Field Life

Run-to-end (hereafter referred to "RTE") is a fit-for-purpose approach to manage late field life assets for realization of full potential through safe, reliable and cost effective operation by maximizing value at the end of economic life while complying to minimum technical standards through ALARP demonstration. RTE provides an overview of the multiple processes which shall be adopted and customized to the business needs of the intended facilities with the aim to minimize value leakage and ensuring safety until facility's cease of production prior to relinquishment or decommissioning. This RTE philosophy is to be applied to facilities that are within 5 years of its end of economic life so that value leakage can be minimized within the tolerable risk. The RTE provides an overview of development of case for change, guided process for the Operation & Maintenance philosophy changes and demonstration of risks mitigation & governance assurance. The safety risk of the facility shall be assessed and monitored through continuous ALARP demonstration. If the facility is deemed to be either no longer safe through ALARP or can no longer maintain a positive cash flow position, it is recommended that the facility to cease production operations and proceed with relinquishment or decommissioning activities. It has been implemented in one of late field life and resulting to 30% reduction of OPEX.

Investment possibility based models for public–private partnerships in water projects

One of the key issues that govern the success to invest is creating prospects for the return of investment. However, this is often hampered by a lack of research in determining the region or the area that has the potential for such a project delivery method, and the ability to repay the loan has not been considered. Developing positive cash flow projects depends on the inclination and ability of the customers to pay for the offered services. The aim of this paper is to (i) investigate the effect of Gross National Income (GNI) and the percentage of the population with access to potable water on selection of candidate countries for public–private partnership (PPP) investment in water projects and (ii) model the relationship between (GNI) and the percentage of the population with access to potable water and candidate countries. Four models have been developed to categorize the countries into investment groups. Data used in this paper, as well as the percentage of their respective populations that have access to potable water, were collected from 195 countries. K-means and discriminant analysis techniques have been used to build four investment decision making models. These models have been validated using real data from 40 countries and are helping PPP developers and investors select the region or area that has access to potable water and the ability to repay the loan using GNI.

Contractors’ perceptions of the effects of cash flow on construction projects

Purpose This paper aims to evaluate Nigerian contractors’ perceptions regarding the effects of positive and negative cash flow during construction projects, with a view to establishing effective strategies for cash flow management. Design/methodology/approach A desktop-based literature review is used to develop a cross-sectional questionnaire survey which uses Likert items to elicit responses from construction professionals on: the reasons for cash flow problems; the impacts of negative and positive cash flow; and the potential solutions for improving cash flow on construction projects. Findings The study finds that delay in payments, difficulty in obtaining financial aid and inadequate budgetary control are the causes of cash flow problems during construction projects. Cumulatively, these issues result in project delays, reduced profit margins and in the worst scenarios, abandoned projects. Originality/value There has been limited research into the effects of positive and negative cash flows on construction projects in Nigeria and indeed, the wider geographical location of West Africa. This study addresses this observed dearth and consequently advances methods and solutions to deal with the problem of poor cash flow management in the Nigerian construction industry.

Dividend and Investment Decisions of Indian Corporate Firms Under Cash Flow Uncertainty

The Miller–Modigliani theory proposed that in perfect capital market, dividend and investment decisions are mutually separable, which is commonly known as the “separation principle.” On the basis of this theory, this article tries to investigate the dividend–investment relationship from a new perspective by introducing the cash flow uncertainty. This cash flow uncertainty is measured by cash flow shortfall and cash flow volatility. Using firm-specific data on relevant variables of the BSE-listed firms from 2001 to 2015, this article tries to explore the instruments which help to resolve cash flow uncertainty of the firm. Classifying firms into quintiles and dividing them into positive and negative shortfalls on the basis of both the measures of cash flow uncertainty, our main results show that firms mainly use external financing to resolve cash flow uncertainty. However, cash drawdown plays a trivial role in mitigating shortfalls. Moreover, applying the linear panel data estimation, the relationship between dividend and investment is explored for firms having a positive cash flow shortfall, using both measures of cash flow uncertainty. Our results reported that firm’s investment decision has no impact on dividend decision and vice versa. Hence, dividend and investment choices are made independently under cash flow uncertainty. Thus, our results support the “separation principle” under cash flow uncertainty.