Discuss profitability of a company and its impact on investor performance indicators.

You are required to select two non-financial companies listed on the London Stock Market and obtain the published financial statements for the last 5 years. The two companies should be within the same industry group and, therefore, be competitors.

Any analysis must compare and contrast the profitability for each company over the five year period and compare and contrast the investor performance indicators for each company over the same five year period.

Calculations of a selected number of relevant financial ratios and values must be included; however the main focus of discussion should not be ratio analysis. It is suggested that a minimum of three profitability ratios and three investor performance ratios be calculated.

Your assessment must contain an Introduction, Conclusion and Recommendation. The recommendation should indicate which company has performed best from an investor's viewpoint over the period.