Analysis Of The Financial Report Of Burberry Finance Essay

Analysis Of The Financial Report Of Burberry Finance Essay In this section we are considering the Annual Report 2009-10 of Burberry and will compare Burberrys performance in this year with the previous years. When financial year 2009-10 started i.e. April 2009, Burberrys main issues of concerns were weak and highly uncertain consumer spending environment (because of prevalent recession). Following which groups main goals were established: Expense Reduction Working Capital Management Indeed, they succeeded up to a remarkable level under most strategic, operational and financial measures. Performance of Burberry was among the best relative to its peers either public or private. Highlights of Burberrys important strategic and operational decision in 2009-10:  £50 M cost efficiency program-helped in reduction of Cost of Sales Upgrading wholesale distribution and restructuring the operations in Spain To maximize Gross Margin, continued to reduce assortment size across categories-resulting in increased Gross Margin from 52.1 % to 59.7% Improved inventory management- inventory reduced 36% over year Added 21 stores with 9% space extension These mentioned decisions helped Burberry perform strongly in 2009-10 and resulted in improved financial strength. Key financial strengths during the period are: Total revenue growth 7%- Revenue  £1.3bn Adjusted operating profit increased 22%  £220M increase Diluted adjusted EPS increased 16% to 35.1p Financial Ratios: Financial ratios are widely used be managers, shareholders, creditors and analysts for all kind of purposes. Firth (1975) proclaimed that these can be used for two purposes. These are: To compare companys latest performance with its performance in earlier periods To make comparisons with corresponding ratios of other firms Following is an analysis of the companys financial ratios and a comparison with the preceding year and its peers: Profitability Ratios: Return on Capital Employed (ROCE): Formula: Net profit before tax/ (All shareholders fund + long term debt) Significance: Profits earned from the two major sources of finance for the company viz. investment by shareholders- shareholders fund and financial institutions mostly- long term debt. The effectiveness of the management in utilising the funds is indicated by ROCE. The return for the FY 2009-10 is 26.03%. It shows a significant change when compared to the previous years return of NEGATIVE 2.78%. A quick glance at the operating profit for the last two years reveals the reason behind such a big leap forward. The company has performed tremendously in the last financial year. From an operating LOSS of  £9.9M for the year ended 31 March 2009 to a significant operating PROFIT of  £171.1M for the year ended 31 March 2010, shows the efficient and effective measures the company had adopted over the year. Even if the comparison is made between adjusted operating profits (after considering the exceptional items) for the last two years, we can see a significant difference of  £39.1M (219.9-180.8). All of this shows that the business is effectively earning on shareholders fund and long term debt generated. Ratio Formula Significance Net margin Net profit before tax/ Total revenue The net profit percentage on the entire revenue earned for the financial year Gross margin Gross profit/ Total revenue The gross margin percentage on the revenue earned for the financial year It is the one of the most commonly used profitability ratio. It shows the net margin with respect to the amount of sales. In 2010 it got increased from -1.34% (2009) to almost 13%. In 2009, Burberry reported negative profit i.e. loss. Main reasons behind this were: High Cost of Sales in 2009 (12.5 % higher than 2010) Higher operating cost (6.71%)in 2008-09 which was mainly because of Goodwill impairment in global market(mainly Spain)  £116.2 million Relocation of headquarters Store impairment and onerous lease provisions Increase in NPM shows that Burberry has controlled its costs effectively in 2009-10. It demonstrates effectiveness of Burberry at converting sales into actual profit. Gross Margin: There is an increase from 55.41% (2009) to 62.82%. It shows that Burberry has increased its gross profit by 7.4 p per  £1 of turnover. It is because of higher sales and low cost of sales in 2010. Sales Growth: Formula: (Present sales- Previous sales) / Previous sales Sales increased from  £1200M (2009) to  £1280M (2010) i.e. an increase by almost 7%. Adapted: Burberry Annual Report 2009-10 Sales growth is one of the KPIs. The above graph shows the revenue earned by Burberry in the last five years. The overall growth shows the increasing trend followed by the company in spite of its macro-economic conditions. This proves the companys ability to capture the market being a luxury brand. Liquidity Ratios: They show the companys ability and the ease with which it can lay its hands on liquid cash. In other words, these ratios signify the liquidity position of the company. The main components of these ratios are the current assets and current liabilities which are also the factors that determine the working capital of the company. Current Ratio: Formula: Total Current Assets/ Total Current Liabilities This is the one of the best known measures that indicates the liquidity position of the company. There is an increase in Current Ratio in 2010 as compared to 2009 which indicates that Burberry has improved its ability to meet the payment schedule of its current debts. The change from 1.36:1 in 2009 to 1.53:1 in 2010 shows the efficiency in working capital requirements. Having current assets equivalent to 1.53 times of current liabilities shows a moderate approach from the management not being too aggressive by holding less current assets nor too conservative by holding more current assets leading to high opportunity cost. Quick Ratio/Acid Test: Formula: (Total current assets-stock)/total current liabilities It measures companys ability to meet short-term obligations with its most liquid assets. An acceptable ratio should be at least 1:1. However in 2009 it was .87 which is not sufficient. An increase from .87 to 1.2 over a period of one year demonstrates that Burberry has stronger liquidity position than it had before. Shareholders POV: Collier (2009) state that Dividends are a decision made by directors on the basis of the proportion of profits they want to distribute and capital needed to be retained in the business to fund growth. (p.114) Shareholders invest in a companys stock with the motive of higher returns through dividends or capital gains. The idea of investing in the shares of a company may give higher returns compared to the other secure investments like bank. However, the risk is also more. The investors measure the prospects of a stock under various scales. Few of them are as follows: Dividend per share (DPS): Formula: Dividends paid/ number of shares Often DPS is the measure of a companys performance because it indicates how profitable a company is over a period of time. In Burberrys case, its excellent performance is reflected through the increase in the dividend per share paid to shareholders. As at 31st march 2010, Burberry had 435,024,782 ordinary shares, of which 77,215 were held as treasury shares, shares that have been bought back by the issuing corporation and is available for retirement or resale; it is issued but not outstanding; it cannot vote and pays no dividends. (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=treasury%20shares) As per annual report, Burberry has proposed dividend of  £45.7M, which is 20% higher than last year ( £37.7M). This increases its dividend per share to 10.5p from 8.65p. It also increased interim dividend, which is declared and distributed before the calculations of companys annual earnings, per share slightly from 3.35p to 3.50p during year. So, the total dividend per share is 14p for the year ending 2010 giving a 17% increase from 12p in 2009. Dividend Yield: Formula: Dividend per share/ market value per share It shows the relationship between dividends and market share by expressing a companys dividend as a percentage of its share price. However, dividend yield fluctuates with share price. Burberrys shares price was 276.25 on 27 March 2009 and 725.00 on 1 April 2010. (http://www.google.co.uk/finance?client=obq=LON:BRBY) Using its share price value at financial year end, dividend yield is 1.93% in 2010 and 4.3% in 2009. This need not represent that Burberry has decreased its value in investors eye. This fall is because of 163% increase in share price of Burberry, which made increase in dividend less significant. Dividend Payout Ratio: Formula: Dividend paid / (profit after tax i.e. net income) or the ratio of dividend per share and earnings per share. It helps in predicting how well earnings support the dividend payments. Investors seeking high current income and limited capital growth prefer companies with high Dividend payout ratio. However investors seeking capital growth may prefer lower payout ratio because capital gains are taxed at a lower rate. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividend_payout_ratio) For 2010: it is 14/36 = 38.88 % 2009: 12/31= 39.2% It is almost similar in both years, which shows that Burberry is maintaining the balance between interest of shareholders and expansion of business. Earnings per share (EPS): Formula: profit after tax or net earnings/ number of shares Burberry calculates EPS on the basis of both diluted and basic. When all convertible securities such as convertible preference shares, convertible debts, convertible debentures and warrants exercised; number of outstanding shares increases. This is called Diluted weighted average number of shares, the basis of Diluted EPS. As number of outstanding shares increases, Diluted EPS is always lower than Basic EPS. It is more accurate to use a  Diluted EPS over the reporting term; because the  number of shares outstanding can change over time (We can observe this in annual report that Burberry has always mentioned diluted EPS). In 2010, Diluted weighted average number of shares was about 442 million with dilution effect of 9.3 million. In 2009, it was 438.1 million with dilution effect of 6.8 million. Earnings were  £81.4 million in 2010 as compared to loss of 6 million in 2009, because of reasons mentioned before. This leads Basic EPS to 18.8p (-1.4% in 2009) and Diluted EPS to 18.4p (-1.4% in 2009). Using details of exceptional items in note 4 of annual report 2009-10, adjusted earnings are  £155.2million and  £132.1 million for 2010 and 2009 respectively. This leads to Adjusted Basic EPS to 35.9p (30.6p in 2009) and Adjusted Diluted EPS to 35.1 (30.2 in 2009). Increase in Adjusted Diluted EPS by 17 % is mainly because of 17 % increase in adjusted profit as weighted number of shares is almost same. This increase represents better performance of Burberry in 2009-10. Price-Earnings (P/E) Ratio: Formula: Market value per share/ EPS It is the valuation of companys current share price compared to the per share earnings. This ratio reveals the popularity of a stock because it reflects how much people are willing to pay for it (http://library.thinkquest.org/3298/NoFrames/help/glossary.html). The P/E ratio can be interpreted as number of years of earnings to pay back purchase price, ignoring the time value of money (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P/E_ratio). For 2010 P/E ratio is 725/35.9= 20 and for 2009 it is 276/30.1= 9.2 There is almost two times increase in P/E ratio. This is because of increase in share price by 163%. This increase makes Burberrys stock more attractive than previous year. Bottom line: The above analysis from a shareholders POV leaves an overall positive impact on the investors or the potential investors. Considering the shareholders return, profitability, growth rate the company has been maintaining and the increasing trend in the share value, it would be more than likely a wise decision to invest in the Burberrys stock. Gearing effect: Tools used: Gearing ratio: long-term debt/ (shareholders funds + long-term debt) This ratio gives the proportion of funds which is borrowed from outside in the entire capital employed, than from the shareholders (through issue of shares). This is also called the leverage ratio. The method of introducing debts in place of equity is referred to as trading on equity leverage Collier (2009) states that Higher the gearing, higher is the burden on repaying the debts and the associated interest. Also, if profits turn down, there are substantially more risks carried by the highly geared business. (p.108) However, there is a relationship between risk and return which is to be analysed. Higher proportion of long term debt signifies two issues: Higher return for shareholders Less tax burden Burberry in 2009 has a gearing of 52.72%. For the year ending 2010, it is 43.06% i.e. 56.94% of equity. This shows that their almost half of the sources of finance is through long term borrowings. The effect of generating finance through debts than through equity is shown on the return the shareholders are enjoying. It also shows the company has been closely monitoring tax burden. This is because the provision made for the interest obligation/payment is reflected in reducing the profits, thereby a lower tax on lower profits. However, the debts carry with them the interest obligation and repayment commitments. This way the company has been trying to balance between debt and equity. In the financial year 2009-10, the company has reduced its debt content trying to be a little conservative. The capital structure can be considered to be moderate. Interest cover: Profit before interest tax/ interest payable This represents the profit available, to meet the interest obligation, in terms of the interest payable (number of times). Higher interest cover leaves less strain on the profits and giving a cushion with profit AFTER interest and before tax. Profit before interest and tax: Interest payable: For 2010:  £171.1M  £6.2M For 2009:  £ (9.9) M Loss  £13.4M Interest cover for the year 2009-10 is 27.6 times. This is a highly impressive cover leaving a comfortable position. Considering the loss in the previous year and still maintaining this is very efficient. The decrease in interest commitment this year can be related to the reduction in the debt content of the capital structure (gearing ratio). Financial Risk Management Overview: Burberry deals with variety of financial instruments viz. derivatives, short term and long term borrowings, trade receivables/payables etc. It also combines with variety of financial risks. However, the risk management is carried out by a dedicated Group Treasury under the approval of Board of Directors. Guidelines/ Tools: To reduce the financial risk and ensure sufficient (OPTIMAL) liquidity position Work closely with the business requirements Uses derivative instruments to hedge certain risk exposures Market Risk: Foreign Exchange Risk: Risk: Multiple foreign currency transactions because of international operations Tools/Policies: Entering into forward foreign exchange contracts Hedge anticipated cash flows in each major foreign currency Monitor the desirability of hedging the net assets of the overseas subsidiaries when translated into Sterling for reporting purposes. At 31 March 2010, the Group has performed sensitivity analysis to determine the effect of non-Sterling currencies strengthening/weakening. Price Risk: Risk: Fluctuations in employers national insurance liability due to movements in the share price. Tools/Policies: Entering into equity swaps at the time of granting share options. Monitor the fluctuations in the liability on a continuous basis. Cash flow interest rate risk: Risk: Fluctuations in the interest rates. Tools/Policies: Use interest rate swap derivatives to manage fixed and floating rate borrowings within limits. Credit Risk: Risk: Possible bad debts. Tools/Policies: Wholesale sales only with appropriate credit history/check. Retail sales only through cash or major credit cards. Maximum credit risk exposure is classified separately and attended. Liquidity Risk: Risk: Maintaining sufficient cash balance. Tools/Policies: Maturity profile is established All short term creditors, accruals, bank overdrafts and borrowings within one year. Compliance with all the committed banks credit guidelines. Capital Risk: Risk: Returns to shareholders and other stakeholders; Maintain Going concern. Tools/Policies: Maintain strong credit rating. Appropriate capital structure mix debt and equity. Adjustments according to the economic changes and its strategic objectives. Analysis of the above: All of the above represents the measures adopted by Burberry to meet the Financial Risks. The company having a dedicated risk management team in order to face the risks gives a confidence in the minds. However, they should be continuously aware of the fact that a large corporate like Burberry will have to attend to growing/new risks by anticipating well in advance. They may include a deeper analysis in the following areas: Working capital cycle: Inventory management, EOQ/JIT methods, optimum cash model. Financing needs. Other sources of finance can be analyzed like debt factoring. Capital budgeting decisions before expanding or investing on a project. WACC Weighted average cost of capital is to be considered before deciding the capital structure. Comparisons with the market rate and interest rates prevailing. The overall financial risk management shows the companys ability to address almost all the possible risks efficiently and effectively. Conclusion: With comparison to most of the essential parameters, it can be concluded that Burberry plc showed a promising performance in the last completed financial year 2009-10. Not just with regard to the financial performance, but also in satisfying the shareholders with competent returns. A birds eye view shows the company has made a great comeback this year with a significant profit. However, a deeper penetration/analysis into the last year financials reveals that the loss made in 2008-09 is because of high cost of sales with a difference of  £59.8M compared to the recent year, goodwill impairment charge to the extent of  £116.2M, relocation of HQ costing around  £7.9M and other expansion charges. Also, the above report shows the companys transparency in complying with the Corporate Governance and commitment in attending to its Corporate Social Responsibility, employees welfare etc. Burberry showed continuous interest in brand integrity, being a true leader in luxury brands, and market growth through expansion. Indeed, highly motivated. All this leads to only reaffirm the companys continued efforts in excelling beyond horizons among its peers financially, ethically, and morally!

Great Sales People Born or Bred Essay

Great Sales People: Born or Bred Introduction                   Having a well-oiled sales team that can sell a company’s services, reputation, and the brand is the desire of any employer. Asales team is a crucial element that determines customer loyalty to use a company’s product and services over and over. Sales team also plays a role deterring the customers’ choice of which firm to get their money in retune for a satisfying service. It would be erroneous to argue that you cannot improve the personality through training and also illogical to argue that knowledge and skills are inborn that no training or study can enhance it. The controversy on sales success is confined in the falsity that a greater personality can be nourished to make it even better (Forsyth, 2010). Similarly, employers encounter a tough experience training freshmen of the firm’s product and services, to increase their understanding. Such ability to learn about the product relates to the capacity to analyze and learn the minds of clients and improve the power to capture their attention to the products offered by the firm. Sales sector is one critical unit that is directly traceable to the gross output of a firm considering the entire value chain efforts imposed on products and the ultimate user being the customer.                   Just like any other value in the world, the question of personality is a formless, indescribable, insubstantial, and inexpressible ambiguous attribute a sales person could have, but a constructive and definite character of an individual capable of further improvement and through theoretical and practical methods. It is often absurd to stick to the belief that sales persons are entirely gifted insinuating the attributes cannot be acquired by any other means. As Quick (1992) puts it, the idea of purely acquiring the sales skills and knowledge through training is equally dangerous as the â€Å"gift† belief. The history of world achievement by outstanding individuals disapproves these arguments as other have significantly achieved beyond others’ previous achievements by learning new ways of doing things. Sales field is not an exemption especially in today’s dynamic economy where inventions and customized brands are the order of business (Forsyth).                   However, learning about sales is quite expensive and many willing individuals find themselves at the end of the rope before the entire in-service training is finished. Learning by experience is much better than just using past experiences that teaches less or nothing at all. Using personal past experiences is better than using others past experience that makes an individual lag behind by trying to profit from a virtual experience (Johnson, 2000) . It is important to mention that as much as some would learn from experience of others, such a method demands a scientific scrutiny by using facts and figures. Therefore, employers and sale leaders have a duty to spot top sales talents with a strong and commendable background in sales and marketing. Most HR managers possess the view that perfect sales people are born: a person can be trained to perfect the sales skills but the basic drive for success has to exist in a person’s inner being. They have to be aggressive, competitive, and able to handle the hard knocks that come with sales; celebrating and enjoying the passion of the roller-coaster, sales are not exceptional in this field. It is remarkably evident the best sales people have something to prove their achievement: either their career, financially, family or others’ success. A sales professional called Daryl (2013) provides a thought of both aspects of born and bred sale people: in her successful career in financial technology and outsourcing industry, Daryl argues that certain personalities provides themselves to being great sales persons and they only require training to finesse the skills.                   The best known sales people are generally confident do well in dealing with people they meet for the first time, good in team building, dealing with tenacious characters and maintaining acquisitive relationships. These natural abilities when combined with a little training and experience refine their character building great sales persons. Employers are obliged to nature these natural skills, mentoring them and guiding to allow a profitable utilization of the skills in the environment. Those considered as born sellers succeed, but eventually fail for not utilizing the other aspect of breeding. At this level it is right to point that successive selling is achieved by utilizing born sellers’ attributes like confidence, tenacity and passion for promoting a firm’s products and services. Failure is experienced in a case where born attributes have not been bred to dig into customers mind by asking questions to enable them fully understand the kin d of products or service they can derive from a seller. Without training, a customer may perceive the seller as having not fully developed a solid foundation of empathy and trust upon which a client feels should be presented on products and service provision. A sense of equality is offered through questioning a customer about their wants and needs: a feeling of privilege is built upon the process of enquiry creating a mutual satisfaction (Hession, 2001).                   Sellers considered as â€Å"born† have often succeed in their career due to their desire to create a mutual coexistence with their customers, openness, and asking insightful questions aiming to get to the bottom of the matter before the deal is terminated. Therefore, more friendly sellers reassure the customer that their interest are catered for building their trust and understanding driving the customer to even purchase more from the same firm. On the other hand, bred sellers stand a better position to sell or closing the sale due to lack of pushy or selling concern, a different case with â€Å"born† sellers.                   For a person with a desire to excel in sales, they need to top making excuses based on their personality, but start from where they are now. Achieving full potential in this field calls for a positive mindset of learning and progressive development of skills and â€Å"born† attributes that makes greater sales professional. These attributes are only learnt by bold person with the gut to risk their social reputation as they practice it. According to Harvard Business Review (2011), an estimate of 70% of successful sales team has inborn natural instincts that greatly determine their sales career path and success. On the other hand, a 30 percent and below is a group of self made sales persons implying that they learnt from the selling environment without the benefits of natural attributes. More so, the analysis presented a 40 percent of people who enter the sales field without these natural instincts, but later fail or quit. Another 40 percent will per form at an average rate, with the remaining portion performing above the average. It is important to point out that the figures above vary by the type of industry and the nature of products or services sold.                   Based on past studies, the question of discussion should lie on what determines the fate of sales persons without natural traits. It might be simple to mention the obvious factors that lead to success of a sales team like hard work, passion, persistence, empathy, intelligence and integrity, but another set of key factors worth listing are greed, language specialization, modeling the experience, political insight and language power. The most important distinguishing element in the success of a self-made sales person is the language power. More often than not, sales person recite the features and benefits they offer, but finds it had to hold an intelligent conversation about the firm’s daily operations (Bird, 2012). It is paramount that business firms develop their own language to deal with technical issues relating to the daily operation in order to facilitate a mutual comprehensive understanding of meaning of words and terminologies used. A techni cal consist of abbreviations and acronyms used on their products.                   According to Bird (2012), the ability of a sales person to analyze comparable experiences and similar data into expected molds is referred to as modeling of experience. Sales activities involve a continuous consolidation and accumulation of like information from customer interactions and sales calls. From these activities, sales person are able to predict future happenings under similar situations and plan for the right responsive actions. Self- made and successful people stand a better chance of storing, and retrieval of all information that occur during sale cycles and calls. This experience is a better way of learning from experience, by ensuring past mistakes are avoided in future sales activities. A political acumen is another important element in ensuring openness and diverse approach to selling and dealing with customers. Sales is a practice that take s a human nature where, the outcome is determined by people and politics breeding successful sale s team should prioritize on political acumen to effectively determine customers’ motivation and influence to their decision. Greed applies in sales on a different dimension from the normal association with a corrupt character: the term is applied in reference to the desire of a better pay for one’s time. Time is a factor that determines how much a sales person gets at the end of the deals made, and therefore effort should focus on winning as many deals as possible within a limited time. It is the greed that motivates sales person to push hard for a better gain (Bird, 2012). Therefore, a lesser sales person does not possess this trait that act as an inward drive to settle as many deals as they can. Conclusion                   The above variations presents a better opportunity for sales leaders to train their â€Å"born† sellers (considered successful in their own right), by analyzing what a successful and efficient sales force feels, interacts and sounds like considering the strengths and weakness of both types of sellers. According to this analysis, the role of a sales leader includes developing the existing sales team to offer different types of services. Similarly, when recruiting, a leader should identify the candidates with a desire to be nurtured and molded to fit in the effective sales team. A seller needs to be ‘all rounded’, and not only a tradition â€Å"born† seller termed as successful without fully realizing their potential. Many self-made and successive sales persons have learnt to apply their acquired experience a profit5able manner to build their intuition. It is important to understand what counts and spend time on it while navigati ng to powerful decision makers to find a chance to convince them buy from your firm References Bird, T. (2012). Brilliant selling: What the Best Sales People Know, Do and Say. Harlow: Prentice Hall Busines. Forsyth, P. (2010). 100 Great Sales Ideas(New ed) From Leading Companies Around the World. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish. Hession, R. (2001). Drive a Great Sales team for Sales Managers Who Want Results. Oxford: How To Books. Johnson, T. (2000). Effective Sales Management,Hhow to Build a Winning Sales Team. Los Altos, Calif: Crisp. Quick, L. T. (1992). Making Your Sales Team #1. New York: AMACOM, American Management. Source document

Pride And Prejudice By Jane Austen - 1595 Words

Jane Austen wrote about the world in which women had no rights and no importance outside of marriage. Pride and Prejudice was written in 1813. Romanticism begins around 1789. Their priorities consists of emotionalism, self consciousness, respect for dignity of childhood, an interest in folk culture, and primitive origins for rural life.Pride and Prejudice is a window into the lives of young eighteenth century British women. â€Å"Romanticism reflected a deep appreciation of the beauties of nature. For the romantics, nature was how the spirit was revealed to humankind. They believed that emotion and the senses could lead to higher truths than either reason or the intellect could.† (Phillips, pg. 5) Marriage is the ultimate goal and primary†¦show more content†¦The five daughters are, Lydia, Kitty, Mary, Jane, and Elizabeth. They’re all quite different. Lydia and Kitty are the youngest, very wild, and in a hurry to marry a soldier. Mary is very smart, and doesn’t really care for much that isn’t logical. Jane keeps her feelings and thoughts to herself, though she is close to Elizabeth, she doesn’t tell her everything. Elizabeth is very strong minded and very opinionated on things. Mr. Bingley’s wealth and social prominence make him a good candidate for a young single women. The oldest daughter, Jane, soon finds out that Mr.Bingley enjoys her. Elizabeth Bennet wants nothing to do with the neighbors. Although, she enjoys Mr. Bingley, she finds his family and close friend, Mr. Darcy’s lack of respect. Mr. Wickham intensifies her dislike for the interest in man of Longbourn. Mr. Collins visits the Bennet family. He is a clergyman and will be the inheritor of the Bennet’s house and land upon Mr. Bennett s death. Mr. Collins is in want of a wife and decides to try to marry one of the Bennet daughters, so that any unmarried daughter can still live at the house. Lady Catherine demands him to marry. He obeyed her as usual, and first likes Jane, but Mrs. Bennet tells him that Jane is soon to be married. However, Mrs. Bennet suggest Elizabeth in sake of the family. She refused him, believing that a marriage without love is not worth while. Within a day,

Frankenworms Dancing Gummy Worms Science Experiment

Turn ordinary motionless gummy worms into creepy, wriggling Frankenworms in this easy science experiment. Frankenworms Materials Gummy wormsBaking soda (sodium bicarbonate)WaterVinegar (dilute acetic acid)2 glassesScissors or kitchen shears Let's Make Frankenworms! Use the scissors or kitchen shears to cut the gummy worms in half or into quarters lengthwise. You want long, thin strips of worms.Drop the worm strips in one glass. Add a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda and enough water to dissolve some of the baking soda. If all of the baking soda dissolves, add more until some undissolved powder remains.Let the worms soak in the baking soda solution for 15 minutes to half an hour.Pour vinegar into the other glass. Drop a baking-soda-soaked worm into the vinegar. What happens? At first, nothing appears to happen. Then, bubbles start to form on the surface of the worm. The worm starts to move. After some time, the reaction stops and the worm stills. Why Do the Worms Move? The gummy worms wriggle because a chemical reaction between baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (weak acetic acid) produces carbon dioxide gas. This is the same reaction that causes a baking soda and vinegar volcano to erupt lava! The tiny gas bubbles released by the reaction stick to the body of the gummy worms, eventually merging into bubbles big enough to float part of the worm. If the gas bubble detaches, it floats to the surface while that part of the gummy worm sinks back down. Tips for Success If your worms appear dead in the water, you may be able to revive them: See if you can cut the worms thinner. You may wish to ask an adult for help. A thinner gummy worm is a lighter gummy worm and thus much easier to make move. Thin worms absorb baking soda better, too.Try adding more baking soda to the soaking solution or soaking the worms longer. The baking soda needs to get into the gelatin that makes up the worms so that it can react with the vinegar to make bubbles.