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Unit 28 :
Discussing Company Performance
Pre-advanced
Vocabulary
Repeat these word/ phrases after your teacher.
1. down the road (phr)
at some time in the future
2. to get back to (phr)
return to an earlier topic of conversation
3. to maintain a strong market position (phr)
to continue performing well against the competition
4. golden opportunity (phr)
a great chance to do something amazing or rewarding
5. big-time (phr)
greatly
6. on paper (phr)
used for saying that something looks to be true or good, especially when you read about it, but is not really true or good
7. to pan out (phr)
to work out or to conclude successfully
8. out of the woods (phr)
out of danger or difficulty
9. to pay off (phr)
to bring good results or rewards
10. to default on loans (phr)
to not pay money that you owe
Dialogue
Read the dialogue aloud with your teacher.
Claudia
Taylor
Yeah… I think this one’s pretty straightforward.
How’d you mean?
Well, for one, they’ve maintained a very strong market position for some time now. Stable cash flow. Growing nicely.
Maybe… but I’m a bit concerned they’re about to… overreach.
You mean raising capital for that new mine in Oklahoma?
Precisely. I think the priority should be reducing their existing debt burden.
I don’t know, I’ve seen the projections for that. Looks very promising. Golden opportunity, no pun intended. It’ll definitely improve their financial position.
Um… wait a sec here… remember Trellis Mining? Pretty much the same situation. Looked great on paper.
But I said they’d have trouble meeting their long-term liabilities. And they did. I don’t want to see us repeat that mistake.
Come on Taylor. Trellis was different in a whole bunch of ways. Their situation was impacted big-time by the downturn.
Things didn’t pan out for a lot of big players at that time…
[Fade in] …okay, what say we move on to Intuition Software. Initial thoughts?
I think we’re finally out of the woods there.
Yeah, I’d tend to agree. The old management team is gone. As is the habit of defaulting on loans.
And mismanaging funds, I might add. The whole thing was a huge gamble, but I think it’s starting to pay off.
But still, there’s work to be done if we want to maintain a healthy ROI.
You probably mean trimming operating costs?
I think “trim” is a bit too optimistic. I’m talking about slashing the budget.
Discussion
Answer the following questions to your teacher.
- Why does Claudia feel positive about Ranger Gold’s performance?
- What is Taylor worried will happen if Ranger Gold builds a new mine?
Let’s practice
Collocations: Match the collocations in the box and then use them to complete the sentences below. (If necessary change the tense of verbs to fit the context, i.e., to past or future tense.)
A
1. To maintain
2. To default
3. To mismanage
4. Stable
5. To reduce debt
6. To raise
7. To slash
8. To trim
B
cash flow
a strong market position
operating costs
capital
on loans
burden
funds
a budget
C
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Let’s practice
Collocations: Match the collocations in the box and then use them to complete the sentences below. (If necessary change the tense of verbs to fit the context, i.e., to past or future tense.)
1. If we __________________our_____________________ , our whole relationship with this bank is going to be completely ruined.
2. Paying off a line of credit and credit cards is one way to____________your_______________.
3. We had one month of poor sales, but still had_______________________overall throughout the year.
4. We don’t need massive cuts. All we need is to ________________________a bit.
5. Well, Jerry had some questionable expenses, but I don’t really think he was ______________________.
6. There’s a lot more competition in our industry, but sales are good and we should be able to _______________________.
7. Listen everyone, we’re losing money fast and I’m sorry but we’re going to have to____________ in the next couple of months.
8. We’re going to have to work pretty hard to_______________for this big European expansion.
