Measuring Success: Tools and Techniques for Land Securities Group Plc

This report explores the various tools and techniques used to measure the success of Land Securities Group Plc, including triple bottom line, ratio analysis, KPIs, CSR pyramid, competitor analysis, and balanced scorecard. The report analyzes the financial and non-financial factors that contribute to the success of the company and provides insights into how the company can improve its performance.

MEASURING SUCCESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Triple Bottom Line......................................................................................................................3
Ratio Analysis (Reports, 2022)...................................................................................................4
KPIs.............................................................................................................................................6
CSR Pyramid...............................................................................................................................6
Competitor Analysis...................................................................................................................7
Balanced Scorecard.....................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Every organization operates more a primary motive to earn profits. Profit earning by an
organization depends on a number of factors. These factors can be both financial and non
financial. For the measuring of success these factor, both financial and non financial are assessed
to know about the actual success or weak performance of any company.
Land Securities Group Plc is the biggest commercial property development and
investment company operating in United Kingdom. The company has its headquarters in
London, England. It is a listed company on London Stock Exchange.
In this report various factors that are financial and non financial both will be measured in
order to know about the performance and success of the Land Securities Group Plc. Various
tools and techniques will be used in this report for measuring the success.
MAIN BODY
Triple Bottom Line
Triple bottom line is a concept used in business that says that firms in addition to their
focus on the profit earning and measuring of success on the basis of financial factors, should also
be committed towards the impact its business activities have on the society and environment to
which in sells its products and from which it gets the required resources respectively (Braccini
and Margherita, 2018). The impact of company over the society and environment is divided into
three areas to be studied and analyzed. These three divided parts are namely, profit, people and
planet.
Profit
In the competitive environment and the capitalist economy the success of the company
depends mainly on the financial performance of the company. The financial performance of the
company is reflected in the profits earned by the company (Birkel and Müller, 2021). Key
executives of Land Securities Group Plc formulates strategies to fulfil the profit earning aspect of
the company. The company’s strategies help it to maximize its profits while keeping a check
over its costs and risk factor that is associated with the company.
People
People is the second bifurcation as per the triple bottom line model. This particular is
used to see the impact of the operation of Land Securities Group Plc over the society. Land

Securities Group Plc as a property and investment company fills the gap between the property
that people desire to have vs what they actually have. The company provides its customers with
the desired investment options. The company complies with the health and safety measures.
Public liability is assumed by the company and it also invests in insurance policies. It rises the
awareness by giving adequate training to the workers regarding the emergency evacuation and
procedures for emergency first aid.
Planet
The next component of the triple bottom line is planet. The planet component is part of
environmental effect of the company. Land Securities Group Plc aims at making its process as
sustainable processes in order to minimize the impact over the environment. Certain benchmark
that are set for the real estate companies are followed by the Land Securities Group Plc.
Ratio Analysis
Particulars 2021 2020
Liquidity Ratios:
Current Ratio 0.34 1.48
Quick Ratio 0.31 1.46
Cash Flow from Operations
Ratio
0.2 0.32
Solvency Ratios:
Debt to Equity Ratio 0.36 0.49
Debt to Asset Ratio 0.34 0.39
Proprietary Ratio 0.65 0.60
Activity Ratios:
Trade Receivables Ratio 1.79 1.71
Working Capital Ratio -0.83 1.21
Profitability Ratios:
Operating Profit Ratio -209.4% -93.11%
Net Profit Ratio -219.37% -112.28%
Land Securities Group Plc is a real estate company the ideal current ratio for real estate
companies is considered as 3:1. The current ratio of Land Securities Group Plc for year 2020 is

1.48:1 which is lower than the ideal current ratio. The current reduced to 0.34:1 in the year 2021.
This indicates the inefficiency of the Land Securities Group Plc to pay for its short term
obligations. The liquid or quick ratio of 1:1 should be maintained by the company ideally. For
the year 2020 the quick ratio of Land Securities Group Plc was 1.46:1. Indicates that the
company had excess quick assets. For the year 2021 Land Securities Group Plc quick ratio stood
at 0.34:1 meaning that the ratio needs improvement. The current and quick ratios are types of
liquidity ratios. These are calculated to know about the firm’s liquidity (Walmsley and et.al.,
2018). Both the current and quick ratios indicates the low liquidity of Land Securities Group Plc.
Further ideal cash flow ratio from operations is considered good if it is higher that 1:1.
the cash flow from operations for year 2021 and 2020 is 0.2 and 0.32 for Land Securities Group
Plc. The cash flow from operations also indicates the poor liquidity of Land Securities Group
Plc.
For measuring the solvency of the Land Securities Group Plc the ratios like debt to
equity, debt to asset, proprietary ratio are calculated. Debt to equity ratio tells about the capital
structure of the company. A ratio of 1:1 means equal proportion of debt and equity in the capital
structure of the company (Chesson and et.al., 2021). Land Securities Group Plc for the year 2020
has 0.49:1 it means that the capital structure of company is more dependent on the equity
component in its capital structure. This dependency further increased in the current year as the
ratio became 0.36:1. it interprets that for every 1 unit worth of currency the company has only
0.36 worth unit currency as its debt component in its capital structure. Debt to asset ratio
measures the contribution of debt component of capital structure in the assets of the company.
This ratio tells about the claim of debenture or long term credits in the assets of the company.
The computed values shows that the previous year have slightly high contribution of creditors of
the company in the assets of the company. For the year 2021 for every unit worth of currency of
assets there exist the contribution of 0.34 worth of unit currency by the long term liability of the
company.
The activity ratios calculated are trade receivables ratio and working capital ratio. In the
current year the working capital ratio is negative it means that the current liabilities of the
company is higher than the current assets of the company.
Profitability ratios for the Land Securities Group Plc indicates that the company incurred
losses for the years 2020 and 2021. Operating profit and net profit ratios indicates poor

profitability of Land Securities Group Plc. The company can improve its profitability by
increasing its sales and control over its expenses in required.
KPIs
KPI stands for key performance indicators, are the benchmarks set by the company. These bench
marking helps Land Securities Group Plc to direct its actions in one direction (Dipura and
Soediantono, 2022). The key performance indicators set by the Land Securities Group Plc are
three year total shareholder return, three year total property return, one year total property return
and revenue profit.
For measuring the company’s performance its three year total shareholder return was
compared to the total shareholder return of a comparator group within the FTSE 350 Real Estate
Index of property companies. Company linked this indicator with the remuneration. The Land
Securities Group Plc had determined its three year total shareholder performance 50% of the
award of long term investment plans as compared to the comparator group. The company did not
meet this target. The TSR of Land Securities Group Plc was 4.1% and comparator group stood at
-15.6%.
The three year total property return of Land Securities Group Plc was measures by
comparing it with all March valued properties within MSCI excluding Land Securities Group
Plc. The total property return of Land Securities Group Plc was -4.7% for three year period from
April 2018. Land Securities Group Plc TPR was below the estimated MSCI benchmark at +1.3
5 p.a.
The one year total property return for Land Securities Group Plc was compared with one
year total property return of MSCI not including Land Securities Group Plc. One year total
property return of Land Securities Group Plc stood at -9.6% while the MSCI benchmark is of
+0.8%.
The revenue profit of Land Securities Group Plc measured by comparison to a minimum
internal threshold that is reset after every three years. Land Securities Group Plc progress for
2021 was above the internal threshold for year 2020-21.
CSR Pyramid
CSR Pyramid model was given by the Archie B. Carroll (Talonen and et.al., 2021). This
model is basically a framework that focuses on why should a firm take up its responsibility

towards the society. The model highlights the four important types of responsibilities that should
be followed by the organization in order to be successful in long run (Kusyk, 2021).
Economic Responsibility
The economic responsibility of the company is to remain profitable. To be in detail the
foremost responsibility of the company is to produce goods or services that the society demands
from it and it should make profit by selling those goods and services. Land Securities Group Plc
is committed to the profit earning responsibility and satisfy the expectations of its shareholders.
Legal Responsibility
The legal responsibility of Land Securities Group Plc is to operate in a way that is
consistent and as per the requirements of the government and law. The company duly complies
with the various national and local regulations. Land Securities Group Plc behaves as loyal
citizen of the country and meets all of its legal obligations. It always supplies goods and services
that meets the minimum requirements by the law.
Ethical Responsibility
The company Land Securities Group Plc understands its ethical responsibility and
performs the business operations in a consistently meeting the societal expectation manner. The
company recognizes and accepts that ethical and moral trends that have been evolved and
accepted by the society. Company always avoids the infringement or negligence to the ethical
standards in meeting its objectives.
Philanthropic Responsibility
This component of CSR pyramid includes the involves the voluntary or discretionary
activities of the business. Philanthropic responsibility is not necessary to be assumed but society
expects from the company to follow this responsibility. Company fulfills its philanthropic
responsibility by giving donations, doing charitable works etc.
Competitor Analysis
In a highly competitive market it is essential for companies to analysis its competitive
environment. This is done by the companies to ensure its competitive edge in the market and to
survive and earn profits consistently. Competitive analysis for Land Securities Group Plc will be
done using Porter’s Five Forces Model (Ellis, 2020).
Bargaining power of buyers

The buyers of the Land Securities Group Plc have high demands. They will to buy the
best things by giving up the least amount possible. This trait of customers impose pressure on the
company to earn profits in long run. The company deals with this component by building a large
base of customers and constant innovations in its products and services.
Bargaining power of suppliers
Land Securities Group Plc tackles the bargaining power of suppliers by getting its raw
materials from more supplier instead of relying on few. The company builds efficient supply
chain to reduce the impact of bargaining power of supplier. It constantly keep on experimenting
with the designs of its products so that in case of rise in price of a raw material it can swiftly shift
towards using another raw material.
Threat from substitutes
Substitutes are the products that meets the demands of the customers at better offerings
than that offered by the company. Land Securities Group Plc eliminates the threat from
substitutes available in the market by making its business processes more service focused rather
that merely focusing on the product. It understands the core needs of the customers that produce
accordingly.
Competition by the existing competitors
High competitive rivalry in the market can lead to reduced profitability of the company
(Wang and Lin, 2021). Land Securities Group Plc deals with the high competition in the market
by building difference through sustainable process. By producing on large scale to compete
better. Land Securities Group Plc collaborates with the competitors in order to increase its
market size.
Entry of new entrants in the market
The company counters the threat of new entrants entering the market and reducing the
market share for the company through constant innovation in the products and services that the
company provides. It sells the products at lower prices by using the advantage of economies of
scale that results in low fixed cost per unit.
Balanced Scorecard
Balanced Scorecard is a concept used in management as a performance measuring tool.
The concept was given by Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton. It combines the financial and
key non financial factors in order to measure the success of the company (Rasolofo‐Distler and

Distler, 2018). The balanced scorecard of Land Securities Group Plc is categorized into four
components. These four components namely are financial perspective, customer perspective,
internal process perspective and learning and growth perspective.
For the financial perspective measurement of success the net profit is compared to the
targeted net profit. Gross profit is compared to the prior set target. Also current ratio, revenue,
sales and return to investments are compared with the targeted values.
The success from the customer perspective is measured on the basis of certain areas.
Satisfaction of the customers is measured by the rating they give for the product and services by
the company (Quesado, Aibar Guzmán and Lima Rodrigues, 2018). Land Securities Group Plc
sets target for the brand ratings and compare it with targeted ratings. Land Securities Group Plc
mostly compares its performance on the basis of the industry standards or from its competitive
companies. Customer perspective success measurement is also by sales rating and ratio of
customers referring to other customers.
Internal process perspective is the third component. Success on the basis of internal
success is measured through the amount of fraud in the company, number of walk ins compared
to the targeted number. Average duration taken to make one sale and average duration for
construction 1 unit as compared to the targeted time duration.
Learning and Growth perspective is measured by number of staff trained in comparison
to the targeted number to be trained. Overall satisfaction levels in the employees working within
the company. Staff turnover rates and staff working evaluation are few other success
measurement factors.

CONCLUSION
Based on the report the meaning of measuring success has been cleared. The reports has
outlined the importance of measuring success for a business enterprise and for all of its
stakeholders. The various financial and non financial aspects that are considered while
measuring the success of the company has been highlighted in this report. Land Securities Group
Plc has been measured for its success based on both financial and non financial aspects of the
company. The report used various tools and techniques for the purpose of success measurement
of Land Securities Group Plc. People, product and planet components have been analyzed
through triple bottom line framework. Liquidity, solvency and profitability of Land Securities
Group Plc has been measured in the report by ratio analysis. Further the report has measured the
success of the concerned through KPIs, CSR Pyramid, competitor analysis and balanced
scorecard.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Birkel, H. and Müller, J. M., 2021. Potentials of industry 4.0 for supply chain management
within the triple bottom line of sustainability–A systematic literature review. Journal of
Cleaner Production. 289. p.125612.
Braccini, A. M. and Margherita, E. G., 2018. Exploring organizational sustainability of industry
4.0 under the triple bottom line: The case of a manufacturing
company. Sustainability. 11(1). p.36.
Chesson, L. A. and et.al., 2021. Calculation and interpretation of inter-laboratory variation in
isotope delta (δ) values using real interpretative differences. Forensic
Anthropology. 4(3). p.26.
Dipura, S. and Soediantono, D., 2022. Benefits of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and
Proposed Applications in the Defense Industry: A Literature Review. International
Journal of Social and Management Studies. 3(4). pp.23-33.
Ellis, D., 2020. Developing a strategic framework of analysis for air transport
management. Transportation Research Procedia. 51. pp.217-224.
Kusyk, S., 2021. Carroll's CSR Pyramid: An Empirical Investigation of SME CSR
Orientation. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. 18(4). pp.100-115.
Quesado, P. R., Aibar Guzmán, B. and Lima Rodrigues, L., 2018. Advantages and contributions
in the balanced scorecard implementation. Intangible capital. 14(1). pp.186-201.
Rasolofo‐Distler, F. and Distler, F., 2018. Using the balanced scorecard to manage service
supply chain uncertainty: C ase studies in French real estate services. Knowledge and
Process Management. 25(3). pp.129-142.
Talonen, A. and et.al., 2021. Refining the economic dimension of carroll's CSR pyramid by
taking organization form into account. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and
Organization Studies. 26(1).
Walmsley, T. G. and et.al., 2018. Energy Ratio analysis and accounting for renewable and non-
renewable electricity generation: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews. 98. pp.328-345.
Wang, C. H. and Lin, H. C., 2021. Competitive substitution and technological diffusion for
semiconductor foundry firms. Advanced Engineering Informatics. 48. p.101254.
Online
Reports, 2022 [Online]. Available through: <https://landsec.com/investors/reports>