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 The Business Researcher Newsletter

June 18, 2005 Volume 8 Number 4

 

RETURN TO ARCHIVES

 

Opening Comments

 

Hello,

Welcome to the June issue of the BR Newsletter.

Our efforts to update and upgrade our web site continue.  We have now added a subject index to a newsletter archives to help people find relevant information from past issues: http://www.gdsourcing.com /newsletterIndex.htm

We have also updated our Library of Links for Canadian Entrepreneurs: http://www.gdsourcing.com /gds6.htm

Finally, thanks to the efforts of Statistics Canada (see article below) our Canadian Industry Profiles are now updated with 2003 financial ratios.  For more information see our web site: http://www.gdsourcing.com /SBDC.htm#CIP

I hope everyone has a happy and safe summer and that you find this issue helpful.

 

John White
GDSourcing - Research & Retrieval

Return to Table of Contents

 

 

What's New at www.gdsourcing.com   -  Inspectors, Gambling & Adoption

 

The following site summaries were added to the GDSourcing web site over the last 6 weeks.

 

Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors
Site: http://www.cahi.ca/CANinspector.html
Site Summary: http://www.gdsourcing.com /works/CAHPI.htm
A survey of Canadian home & property inspectors on the most frequently found problems in the home.

 

Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency
Site: http://www.cpma-acpm.gc.ca/english/cpma.htm
Site Summary: http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/CPMA.htm
Betting on horse racing at racetracks across Canada

 

Adoption Council of Canada
Site: http://www.adoption.ca/
Site Summary: http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/CPMA.htm
Statistics on International adoptions to Canada

Return to Table of Contents

 

 

Statistics Canada releases

 

The following statistics were released by Statistics Canada over the last 6 weeks. We have listed those releases we feel are of the most interest to Canadian entrepreneurs.

Very few of these statistics are available on-line. The URL listed is a direct link to the press release associated with the data. It provides contact and ordering information. If you want to purchase any publication related to these releases please see our web site: http://www.gdsourcing.com/works/StatCan.htm 

We offer a 20% discount on most Stats Can publications and a 10% discount on Stats Can electronic products. For more information you can reach us at contact@gdsourcing.com. Put "StatsCan" in the subject line of your e-mail.

 

 

AGRICULTURE

 

Greenhouse, sod and nursery industries 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050422/d050422e.htm

 

Study: Organic fruit and vegetable production 2000 to 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050428/d050428c.htm

 

Stocks of grain March 31, 2005
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050506/d050506b.htm

 

Net farm income 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050525/d050525a.htm

 

Study: Urban-rural clash: Environmental management on farms 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050525/d050525d.htm

 

Food consumption 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050526/d050526c.htm

 

Poultry and eggs 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050526/d050526f.htm

 

Farm Input Price Index 2004 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050602/d050602c.htm

 

Fruit and vegetable production Spring 2005 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050610/d050610c.htm

 

 

ARTS & CULTURE

 

Arts, entertainment and recreation services 2003 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050512/d050512d.htm

 

International trade in culture goods 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050519/d050519a.htm

 

Newspaper publishers 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050527/d050527e.htm

 

Television broadcasting 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050602/d050602a.htm

 

Periodical publishing 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050608/d050608a.htm

 

 

BUSINESS SERVICES

 

 

Access to financing capital by Canadian innovative biotechnology firms 2001 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050429/d050429f.htm

 

Study: Research and development personnel 1993 to 2002
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050503/d050503c.htm

 

Foreign direct investment 2004 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050517/d050517a.htm

 

Study: Who's calling at dinner time? 1987 to 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050525/d050525c.htm

 

 

COMMUNICATIONS

 

Telecommunications statistics 2004 and fourth quarter 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050516/d050516b.htm

 

 

CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE

 

Electric utility construction price indexes 2003 (final) and 2004 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050504/d050504c.htm

 

Flows and stocks of fixed residential capital 2004 (revised)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050613/d050613b.htm

 

 

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

 

Provincial and territorial economic accounts 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050427/d050427a.htm

 

Study: Is inflation higher for seniors? 1992 to 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050517/d050517b.htm

 

 

EDUCATION

 

Education Matters

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050427/b050427a.htm

 

School libraries and teacher-librarians 2003/04
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050504/d050504a.htm

 

Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050511/d050511b.htm

 

National Graduates Survey: Manitoba graduates Class of 2000
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050518/d050518e.htm

 

Impact of compulsory school laws on educational attainment and earnings 1920 to 1990
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050519/d050519b.htm

 

Financial Information of Universities and Colleges Survey 2003/04
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050526/d050526e.htm

 

Salary and salary scales of full-time teaching staff at Canadian universities 2004/05 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050609/d050609f.htm

 

 

GOVERNMENT

 

Study: Federal Personal Income Tax: Slicing the Pie 1990 to 2002
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050422/d050422b.htm

 

Biotechnology spending by the federal government 2003/04
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050511/d050511c.htm

 

Public sector employment 2000 to 2004 (revised) and first quarter 2005 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050525/d050525e.htm

 

 

HEALTH

 

Early sexual intercourse, condom use and sexually transmitted diseases 1998/99 to 2000/01 and 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050503/d050503a.htm

 

National Population Health Survey: Healthy aging 1994/95 to 2002/03
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050509/d050509a.htm

 

National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth: Cycle 5 — Custody File 2002/03
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050509/d050509b.htm

 

 

INTERNET

 

Electronic commerce and technology 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050420/d050420b.htm

 

 

JUSTICE

 

Children and youth as victims of violent crime 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050420/d050420a.htm

 

Readmission to Saskatchewan correctional services among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adults 1999/2000 to 2003/2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050603/d050603a.htm

 

 

MANUFACTURING

 

Study: Provincial year-end review of manufacturing shipments 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050425/d050425b.htm

 

Annual Survey of Manufactures: Products shipped by Canadian manufacturers 2002 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050503/d050503d.htm

 

Study: Plant closures and capital retirement 1960 to 1999
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050504/d050504b.htm

 

Consumption of purchased fuel and electricity by Canadian manufacturers 2003 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050504/d050504d.htm

 

Industrial concentration in the manufacturing sector 2003 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050505/d050505d.htm

 

Annual Survey of Manufactures 2003 (revised)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050505/d050505e.htm

 

Bioproducts Development Survey 2003 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050516/d050516c.htm

 

Study: Impact of foreign ownership on head office employment in manufacturing 1973 to1999
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050608/d050608b.htm

 

 

MARKET - DEMOGRAPHICS & INCOME

 

Income of individuals 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050505/d050505b.htm

 

Family income 2003 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050512/d050512a.htm

 

Family income 2003 (Metropolitan Area Highlights)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050520/d050520c.htm

 

Study: Demographic trends in Canada's communities 1981 to 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050531/d050531b.htm

 

Study: Mature singles who don't expect to marry 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050607/d050607a.htm

 

 

OTHER SERVICES

 

Annual Survey of Consumer Goods Rental 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050502/d050502b.htm

 

 

SOCIAL STATISTICS

 

Study: Low-paid work and economically vulnerable families 1980 to 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050425/d050425a.htm

 

Study: Income inequality and working-age mortality
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050429/d050429b.htm

 

Study: Food insecurity in Canadian households 2000/01 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050503/d050503b.htm

 

 

TRADE

 

Quarterly Retail Commodity Survey Fourth quarter 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050419/d050419c.htm

 

Study: Wholesalers a key link in the economy 1997 to 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050427/d050427b.htm

 

Study: Gift cards 2002 to 2005
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050524/d050524b.htm

 

Foreign affiliate trade statistics 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050525/d050525f.htm

 

Profile of Canadian importers: Textile and apparel commodities 2002
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050525/d050525g.htm

 

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

Aircraft movement statistics 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050429/d050429e.htm

 

Study: Too many trucks on the road? 2000 to 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050513/d050513b.htm

 

Characteristics of international travellers Fourth quarter and annual 2004 (preliminary)
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050527/d050527a.htm

 

Domestic travel Fourth quarter 2004 and annual 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050601/d050601b.htm

 

Rail in Canada 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050531/d050531d.htm

 

 

WORKPLACE

 

Study: Diverging trends in unionization 1981 to 2004
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050422/d050422c.htm

 

Study: Labour markets, business activity and mobility in urban centres 1981 to 2003
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050426/d050426a.htm

 

Employer pension plans: Trusteed pension funds 1992 to 2002
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050530/d050530d.htm

 

Study: Work and commuting in urban centres 1996 to 2001
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050601/d050601a.htm

 

British Columbia Aboriginal Labour Force Survey April 2004 to April 2005 
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050603/d050603b.htm

 

Labour Force Survey: Western Canada's off-reserve Aboriginal population April 2004 to March 2005
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050613/d050613a.htm

Return to Table of Contents

 

 

Research from the Trenches: Annual Reports & IPOs

 

One source of market and industry data often overlooked by researchers is other companies. If a company is publicly traded you can access not only their financial information but management commentary and analysis.  This data "from the trenches" can often provide you with insights you would not find from other government and private research sources. Find out how companies located in your target industry are performing and what success strategies they have developed. 

For example in the 2005 Annual Report for La Senza it was reported that:

"The key to success in the lingerie business is largely tied to the sale of bras. Satisfying customers bra requirements as to styling, color and size is the driver that leads the customer to also buy panties and giftware. Thus, bra sales are an important element in building customer loyalty. La Senza's share of the total Canadian bra market (all ages) was 14.9% compared to 9.7% of the total market during the previous year.  In our target age group (15-29 years), La Senza achieved a 39.0% market share in Canada compared to 31.4% last year. In its quest to be the destination lingerie store in Canada, La Senza featured bra launches and bra events in 2004 which brought excitement and innovation to consumer bra shopping...  Market share information was obtained from the Canadian Soft Goods Index published by Trendex, dated February 2005."

This kind of information could take a great deal of time to compile on your own and in the case of market share information could be quite expensive to purchase.  As we always recommend to new entrepreneurs, whenever possible, let someone else do the research for you.  Certainly, an Annual Report is not going to give you all the information you need to assess how best to establish your own business, but it will give you insights often unavailable elsewhere.

Another example of the type of data available is from the Alarm Force 2005 Annual Report:

"The residential alarm industry is continuing to do well, and based on industry estimates, the compound annual growth rate for total revenues in North America over the past five years is approximately 8.4%..."

It is expected that industry fragmentation will continue in the North American alarm industry, with the estimated market share of the top three companies in terms of recurring monthly revenue having decreased from 45% to 41% since 2002.  In the meantime, the estimated market share of the rest of the top 100 companies has remained virtually unchanged in that period.  The net internal growth estimated for the industry was between 3% and 6% per annum in the eight year period including 2004..."

Even better than a corporate annual report is an Initial Public Offering (IPO).  When a company first goes public it must produce a prospectus which basically explains why someone should invest in the company.  It is similar to a business plan in that it describes the company's business, it financial performance and projections.  Even more vital to the subject at hand is that it includes a profile of the company's market and the opportunities available there.  Third party research is often quoted which provides a source you can follow up on for further details.

For example the Dexit IPO prospectus discusses Canadian use of ATMs and the resulting opportunity identified for their electronic payment facilitation service that provides an alternative for low-value-payment transactions.  The source cited for electronic payment use in Canada is The Bank for International Settlements.  By searching on this organization's name in Google we located their annual statistical report (http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss66.htm) which includes additional more up-to-date information such as value of transactions as well as international comparisons.

When you are using annual reports and IPOs make sure that you are not too specific in your search.  If you are providing mobile pet grooming services, look at the annual reports of pet stores and pet food manufacturers.  Both can provide you with market insights whether they be actual statistics or sources to follow up on for further details.

You can access documents from publicly traded Canadian companies at the SEDAR web site: http://www.sedar.com.  This site is primarily organized alphabetically by company legal name.  Unfortunately, if you do not already know of a company the site is not particularly helpful.  You can search by broad industry sector but most researchers will find the sector headings too vague (e.g.  "Merchandising - Specialty Stores" or "Other"). Moreover the resulting company legal names is not always recognizable. For example on a first glance you may not realize that "The Forzani Group" is a sporting goods retailer that operates the specialty stores Sport Chek, Sport Mart, Coast Mountain Sports.

A good way to identify companies in your industry is to keyword search newswires.  The top two in Canada are: Canada Newswire: http://www.newswire.ca/ and CCN Matthews: http://www.cdn-news.com.  Most publicly traded companies release their financial information through one of these media outlets.  Each release is accompanied by a brief description of the business and the industry and market it is involved in. It is this part of the news release that you are searching for a keyword match. For example if we search on "sporting goods" in CCN Matthews we will locate the following company description:

"The Forzani Group Ltd. is Canada's largest national retailer of sporting goods, offering a comprehensive assortment of brand-name and private-brand products, operating stores from coast to coast, under four corporate banners: Sport Chek, Coast Mountain Sports, Sport Mart and National Sports. The Company also retails on-line at www.sportmart.ca and provides a content rich sporting goods information site at www.sportchek.ca. The Forzani Group is also a franchisor under the banners: Sports Experts, Intersport, RnR, Econosports, Atmosphere, Tech Shop and Nevada Bob's Golf."

You can then follow up at the SEDAR site to access annual reports. Simply look under the first letter of the company's legal name.  (e.g. "F" for Forzani). Make sure you search both newswires as companies are usually only listed in one of them.

While I am very adamant that entrepreneurs researching the Canadian market should use Canadian specific data, American annual reports can be instructive.  They tend to be more detailed than their Canadian counterparts.  Extreme caution should be used when consulting financial information since labour conditions, supply channels and regulations between Canada and the United States are quite distinct.  Market conditions and business insights however can be very helpful.

For example data from a U.S. annual report (Family Golf Centers) profiled the typical golf range user as male, 37.1 years old, with 46% of all users having a household income between $40,000 and $75,000.  It further identified that those with an income over $75,000, while representing a smaller share of the overall market (36%) tended to visit a range 1.5 more times than those in the lower income grouping. 

In order to ensure this data is appropriate to the Canadian market, you will need to compare profiles of golfers in general between the two countries.  If it is determined that there are many close similarities, this golf range profile could be considered a reasonable representation of the Canadian market as well. 

You can access American annual reports free of charge at the US Securities and Exchange Commission web site: http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm

Learn from the experience of companies already active in your industry and market. Annual reports and IPO prospecti are easily accessible research resources.  Do not overlook them.

Return to Table of Contents

 

 

Stats Can Revival

 

Statistics Canada has been very busy over the last few months. 

First of all they have redesigned the Canadian Statistics section of their web site so that it is more comprehensive, up-to-date and user friendly (http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/).  You can now search by keyword or browse tables by subject, province/territory, metropolitan area or alphabetical list. 

The tables themselves are more usable.  You can choose to increase or decrease the font size and/or highlight your search terms in the table.   You can also send it to your printer by using the print icon.  Selected tables even include a feature which allows you to rank all the data by an individual column. 

Another handy feature is a link found at the bottom of each table:

"Find information related to this table (CANSIM table(s); Definitions, data sources and methods; The Daily; publications; and related Canadian Statistics tables). 

This link provides you with a list of free and fee resources so that you can identify where to access related information that is more detailed.

Keep in mind however that the data included in the Canadian Statistics section of the web site is highlight in nature and by no means indicative of all the information available from Statistics Canada or indeed from the Statistics Canada web site for that matter.  We still recommend that researchers start their search of the Stat Can site by using the Daily: http://www.statcan.ca/english/dai-quo/   You will not miss out on any available tables from the Canadian Statistics section since all Daily releases now include direct links to relevant tables.

Another upgrade at the Stats Can web site is the availability of  Rich Site Summary/Really Simple Syndication feeds. To help keep up-to-date on relevant Daily releases you can now monitor the Daily through these RSS feeds. Simply subscribe to the topic heading related to your business and you will be notified as soon as new data is released.  For a list of available topics and/or to subscribe see: http://www.statcan.ca/english/dai-quo/rss.htm

You will need a news reader program to view these feeds.  You can find links to free downloads and more information about RSS from the Government of Canada Newsroom (www.news.gc.ca). Under Choose Your News click on News aggregators/News readers.

Finally, Statistics Canada has redoubled their effort to release timely information.  This year they have released their industry financial ratios three months earlier than the previous year's release.   The 2003 data was available June 8th 2005.  This is a dramatic leap forward over the 2002 data release date (September 23, 2004) as well as that of the 2001 data (October 31, 2003).

GDSourcing is now able to provide updated financial information in all of our Canadian Industry Profiles.  This is three months ahead of last year's update!  See: http://www.gdsourcing.com /SBDC.htm#CIP

There are still areas that need improvement but Statistics Canada is definitely heading in the right direction. Keep up the good work!

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Small Business Stats Facts

 

Each Business Researcher Newsletter ends with a collection of five statistics related to Canadian small businesses.

  

1.  What % of Canada Small & Medium-sized business owners are planning for their future succession?

 

Source: CFIB (2005)

  

2.  How long before Canadian SME Owners plan to exit their current business?

 

Source: CFIB (2005)

  

3. What % of Canadian Small Business owners aged 55-64 plan to pass their business on to family members (usually their children)?

   

                              Source: CIBC (2005)

 

4. How many Canadian small business owners plan to retire in the next 5 years?

More than 500,000

 Source: CIBC (2005)

  

5. When do Canadian entrepreneurs plan to retire?

 

Source: CIBC (2005)

 

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