In order for companies to be competetive on the market, there?s a need of capital. If a company is in a need of capital to make major investments and isn?t able to prioritize internal funding, the priority will be external financing with safe securities; loans. How companies should prioritize the allocation between equity and debt, which together form value, leads us to the subject of capital structure.

Biogas is a renewable fuel that can be extracted from anaerobic digestion of many differentsubstrates, for example biological household waste. An alternative handling of the waste is tomix it with other wastes and incinerate it in a combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Thisstudy uses life cycle assessment to investigate which type of waste handling that is betterfrom an environmental point of view, anaerobic digestion with biogas production orincineration. The results are based on a case study of a biogas production plant owned by thecompany Ragn-Sells in Vänersborg. The alternative is incineration at a CHP plant inGothenburg.

This Master's thesis examines some aspects of children's books for 9-12 year olds, and the children's books market, from a gender perspective. The main objective is to make a gender analysis of attitudes among children and other agents in the book market towards children's books of different qualities. Children's reflections on gender roles in the books and the importance of gender aspects for publishers in the field, are investigated. A combination of methods are used, including literary analyses, surveys of publication lists of the BTJ group Bibliotekstjänst interviews with children and questionnaires sent to children as well as to Swedish publishers of children's books. The analysis of children's books clearly shows that images of gender roles vary in different kinds of books which supports theories of gendered literature.

This thesis describes the new construction of a small house and it includes studies of three heating systems: geothermal heating, district heating and pellet. The purpose of this thesis is to project a small house which can manage Building Regulations, BBR conditions and then examine three possible heating systems for the small house. This thesis is a literature study which gives an understanding of the heating systems technical structure, properties and costs. An empirical study completes the literature study by giving a deeper understanding of district heating costs and pellet costs. The empirical study contains two interviews, one of which was conducted in a district heating corporation and the other interview was conducted in a pellet corporation.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att belysa den konflikt som finns mellan riskkapitalbolagens vinstintresse och dess påverkan på kvalitet inom välfärden.Metod: En kvalitativ forskningsansats som baseras på data från fem intervjuer. Respondenterna representerar riskkapitalbolag på olika sätt och frågor om riskkapitalbolag inom välfärdsmarknaden besvaras. Intervjuerna kompletteras med sekundärdata som främst består av nyhetsartiklar som berör ämnet.    Teori: Beskriver riskkapitalmarknaden och välfärdsmarknadens funktion och hur den påverkas av den fria konkurrensutsättningen. Det beskrivs hur informationsasymmetrier kan vara ett problem inom välfärden då säljaren kan utnyttja köparens kunskapsunderläge.

The average life expectancy and the proportion of elderly are increasing globally and inSweden, causing challenges for the society. Physical activity has proven to bring a number ofpositive benefits in older people, making the promotion of physical activity an important partof healthy aging attempts. The degree of physical activity in Sweden?s elderly population isgreater than in previous generations, making this group a positive exception from a widerperspective. A cross sectional study was made in order to investigate which motives tophysical activity that was considered most important among people above 60.

Skillingaryds stålrörsindustri AB handles different kinds of steel pipes and got theirmarket mainly in the furniture industry and in department stores. At the momentthe company find themselves in a strong up going course. In a few years thecompany?s turnover has increased with over 10 million SEK. This has led to ademand for structure changes and reorganizing through the company.

To be able to protect themselves from credit risk, the banks must constantly check the performance of  the companies they have lent money to. There are many mathematical models for predicting financial distress. These models use accounting-based ratios, which often are historical and not representative for the present situation. This study describes how the banks do in practice to find signals of insolvency in time and the variables they are observing for doing that.In addition to financial reports which the company sends in to the bank at least once a year, also the relationship between them and information from different information  agencies are of great importance to track  signals of insolvency. Poor profitability is the primary cause of insolvency.

Background: Companies with a high level of research, such as biotech companies, rarely generates any profit in the begining. Mostly their history is short and their pipelines usually consists of one or a few products only. Significant for the line of business is also a future very uncertain, where relevant objects of comparison are few. Altogether the facts above makes valuation of Biotech companies difficult. Swedish Biotech companies, compared to their american competitors, seem to be of relatively low value.

Syfte: Studien undersöker om det finns ett samband mellan ekonomiska indikatorer och den årliga aktieavkastningen ett år framåt på den svenska marknaden för företag som genomfört nyemission och jämförs med en benchmark som består av företag som inte genomfört nyemission.Metod: Uppsatsen utgår från en kvantitativ undersökning där multipel regressionsanalys används för att undersöka sambandet mellan indikatorer och aktieavkastningen vid nyemissioner under tidsperioden 2002 ? 2010.Slutsats: Utifrån resultaten kunde vissa signifikanta samband konstateras mellan indikatorerna och totalavkastningen för nyemissionsgruppen. Det visade att totalavkastningen sjunker det året företag genomför nyemission jämfört med totalavkastningen året innan nyemissionen. Det kunde konstateras att marknaden är ineffektiv till en viss utsträckning i samband med nyemissioner. För benchmark kunde resultaten dock inte säkerställas på grund av att statistisk felkälla förekom i regressionsmodellen..

In 2011 the International Accounting Standards Board issued amendments to IAS 19 Employee Benefits. The new standard is effective from January 1st 2013 and one of the largest changes in the standard is the elimination of the corridor method. Through the corridor method companies had the possibility to defer actuarial gains and losses resulting from their defined benefit obligations (pension obligations) and leave them unrecognized off the balance sheet. According to the new standard companies reporting under International Financial Reporting Standards will have to recognize all actuarial gains and losses immediately in other comprehensive income. The aim of this thesis is to examine how the financial key ratios of Swedish listed companies will be affected by the elimination of the corridor method.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och utreda hur tjänsteföretag inom charterbranschen arbetar för att stärka sitt varumärke, samt att utreda hur och vilka associationer som skapas kring varumärket.Metod: Försöka implementera en modell för att få en klarare bild över hur charter företag arbertar för att stärka sina varumärken, författarna använder sig olika litteratur käller samt emperiska studier.Resultat: Resultaten visar hur viktigt det för företag att hitta nya metoder för att stärka sitt varumärke, samt betydelsen för tjänsteföretag av att hitta sin egen plats i en konkurrenskraftig marknad.Avgränsning: Genom att begränsa vår undersökning valde vi att koncentrera oss på endast två charterföretag, detta för att skapa en bättre och djupare inblick på vår frågeställning. De två charterföretagen som vi har valt att undersöka och utgå ifrån är; Apollo och Ving. Anledningen till detta är att de är marknadsledande och har lyckats skapa ett starkt varumärke.Nyckelord: Varumärkeskapital, kärnvärde av tjänst, postionering, märkesidentitet, marknadskommunikation, intern märkeslojlitet, associationer..

As companies exert themselves to find new ways of achieving market dominance and stronger brands, the phenomenon co-branding has become increasingly popular. By cooperation between two different firms the combined effects can result in synergies not only on the balance sheet, but even through softer values such as Brand recognition, equity and larger market share. Recently the fashion company H&M launched a collection together with the esteemed fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The objective of this paper is to examine the effects the collaboration had on consumer?s attitudes towards the two brands.

A?gare av aktier i privata bolag har sa?mre mo?jlighet att avyttra sina aktier a?n a?gare av aktier i publika bolag, allt annat lika. Da?rfo?r anva?nds en generell rabatt vid va?rdering av privata bolag, en privat bolagsrabatt, fo?r att kompensera ko?pare fo?r den reducerade mo?jligheten att avyttra sina aktier i ett senare skede. Underso?kningen a?mnade da?rfo?r underso?ka huruvida en generell rabatt a?r applicerbar pa? samtliga bolag genom att underso?ka skillnader i den privata bolagsrabatten mellan olika branscher i Norden.Genom att anva?nda publika aktietransaktioner skapades publika referensportfo?ljer som kunde ja?mfo?ras med privata bolagstransaktioner i Norden under perioden 2006- 2013.

This bachelor thesis describes why investors should invest in environmentally certified buildings instead of non certified buildings. The report provides an overview of possible factors influencing an investor in the investment process of an environmentally certified building. The report explains why building companies find incentive to build green buildings and how a cash flow method can be adapted so it can be used in the valuation process of an environmentally certified building. Environmentally certified buildings are used as a strategy to reduce emissions that threaten the environment as well as a strategy to obtain market shares for the building companies. This report focuses on the economic advantages of an environmentally certified building.The construction- and real estate industry stands for approximately 40 percent of the energy consumption in the world.