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IDEX, a global applied solutions provider, had a mixed Q3 2024. Revenue rose 0.6% to $798 million while earnings before interest and taxes fell 6.1 % to $168 million over the same period last year. A review of IDEX’s 30 October 2024 earnings call and associated financial reports provided insight regarding the importance of pricing on performance. IDEX is a diverse and complex business. It has three reporting units, Fluid & Metering…
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Getting back to the shop-floor example: what if you realized that you ended up buying a few million dollar worth machinery but had to retain the workforce to run the machines as per requirements? In fact you ended up renting a bigger floor to accommodate the humans and machines?
Read MoreThe use of comparable equivalents leads to an improvement in the meaningfulness and accuracy of the benchmark approach, yet the determination of what constitutes the comparable equivalent is made by the consultant him/herself. This approach is fraught with error. Does the lawyer think too highly of him/herself or is he/she being too timid?
Read MoreMuch of this has to do with poor economic policy, the low price of oil (upon which much of Venezuela’s exports depend), and the strong dollar. In such situations, dollars become even more valuable to hoard, which in turn creates more inflation in the bolivar, leading to a positive feedback loop. But how does this lead to shortages of something as basic as toilet paper?
Read MoreBoth Williams and Mason are frank about past mistakes. They grew too quickly. They didn’t respond appropriately to criticism. Accounting was a mess. The business model required too much labor in place of operational efficiency and scalable systems. But both are optimistic about the core problem that the company is trying to solve: e-commerce for small and local businesses.
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