OK. Norma has asked me to go over some of the ratios I used in the report which I sent you last week.

The first of these is on page 3 -- working capital. Everyone got it?

OK. Working capital is quite simple -- it's the current assets divided by the current liabilities. Any questions?

Yes. What's it for?

Well, it basically tells us whether we have enough short-term assets to cover our short-term debt. If we don't, we could be in trouble. OK?

Good. Next is return on assets. This is net income plus interest expense divided by total assets.

Before you ask, it allows us to evaluate the way we use our assets.

It can help us decide whether or not we should start a new project, for example, by comparing the return expected against the normal borrowing costs. Is that clear?

I have a question. What's debt/asset ratio?

I was just coming to that. It's the total assets divided by total liabilities.