Stocks and shares Percentages in finance

What are company shares?  Shares are issued by a company to raise money.  Each share represents a proportion of the company’s value.  For example, if a company has 100 shares, a shareholder who holds 60 of those shares owns 60% of the company.

The Stock Market  Shares are bought and sold on stock markets – for example, the London Stock Exchange.London Stock Exchange  The price of any particular share goes up or down based on how confident investors are that the company will do well in the future.  You can make money if prices go up – or lose money if prices go down!

Buying and selling shares  You are going to be buying and selling shares in five fictional companies.  You needs to calculate how much you are making/losing from the given percentage movements.  You also need keep a record of what shares you own, how much they are worth and your cash flow.

Shares to buy Starting with £100, buy a selection of the following shares:  Aluminium plc at £1 per share  Barley plc at £5 per share  Coffee plc at £10 per share  Diesel plc at £20 per share  Emeralds plc £50 per share

Example

Week 1: Changes  Aluminium: + 5.0%  Barley: - 1.0%  Coffee: + 2.0%  Diesel: 0.0%  Emeralds: + 3.0%

Example of calculations  Coffee plc: 100% + 2% = 102% = 1.02 £10.00 x 1.02 = £10.20  Barley plc: 100% - 1% = 99% = 0.99 £5.00 x 0.99 = £4.95

Week 1: New prices  Aluminium: £1.05  Barley: £4.95  Coffee: £10.20  Diesel: £20  Emeralds: £51.50

Example

Week 2: Analyst ratings 11 ALUBARCOFDIEEME Broker 1BUY STRONG SELL HOLDBUYSELL Broker 2HOLDSELLBUYHOLD Broker 3HOLDBUYHOLDBUY Broker 4 STRONG BUY SELL BUY STRONG SELL Broker 5HOLD BUYHOLD

Week 2: Buying and selling  Decide which shares to sell. You now have this money as cash.  Decide which shares to buy. You need to spend your cash to do this (you can’t buy more stock than you have cash).

Example

Week 2: Changes  Aluminium: + 2.0%  Barley: - 3.5%  Coffee: 0.0%  Diesel: + 4.0%  Emeralds: - 0.5%

Week 2: New prices  Aluminium: £1.07  Barley: £4.78  Coffee: £10.20  Diesel: £20.80  Emeralds: £51.24

Example

Week 3: Analyst ratings 17 ALUBARCOFDIEEME Broker 1BUY STRONG BUY BUYHOLDSELL Broker 2SELLBUY HOLD Broker 3HOLD STRONG BUY HOLDBUYSELL Broker 4BUYSELLBUYHOLD STRONG SELL Broker 5HOLD SELLHOLD

Week 3: Changes  Aluminium: + 0.7%  Barley: + 2.8%  Coffee: + 1.4%  Diesel: - 0.3%  Emeralds: - 3.8%

Week 3: New prices  Aluminium: £1.08  Barley: £4.91  Coffee: £10.34  Diesel: £20.74  Emeralds: £49.29

Week 4: Analyst ratings 20 ALUBARCOFDIEEME Broker 1 STRONG BUY BUY Broker 2SELL STRONG SELL HOLD Broker 3SELLHOLD STRONG SELL BUYHOLD Broker 4SELLBUY STRONG SELL HOLD Broker 5HOLD BUYSELLHOLD

Week 4: Changes  Aluminium: - 1.1%  Barley: - 0.6%  Coffee: - 2.4%  Diesel: - 1.9%  Emeralds: - 0.2%

Week 4: New prices  Aluminium: £1.07  Barley: £4.88  Coffee: £10.09  Diesel: £20.35  Emeralds: £49.19

Week 5: Analyst ratings 23 ALUBARCOFDIEEME Broker 1 STRONG BUY BUYHOLDBUY Broker 2 STRONG BUY HOLDSELL HOLD Broker 3BUY HOLDBUY Broker 4SELLBUY HOLD Broker 5HOLD

Week 5: Changes  Aluminium: + 3.9%  Barley: + 0.7%  Coffee: - 0.1%  Diesel: + 3.1%  Emeralds: + 2.4%

Week 5: New prices  Aluminium: £1.11  Barley: £4.91  Coffee: £10.08  Diesel: £20.98  Emeralds: £50.37

And the winner is… Whoever has the highest stock value (including cash) is the winner. What is the percentage difference between the biggest stock value and the lowest?

Core Maths Support Programme 60 Queens Road Reading RG1 4BS Call