"Scientific research" Almanac

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  REASONS FOR THE CHANGES IN THE VOLUME AND QUALITY OF INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS' LOANS PROVIDED BY COMMERCIAL BANKS IN BULGARIA

  The high credit activities of commercial banks in Bulgaria as regards citizens and households just before the consequences of the global economic crisis, as well as the efforts of local people to maintain a quality standard of living, are the main reasons which increase the burden of individual customers’ loans in the loan portfolio of bank ... The high credit activities of commercial banks in Bulgaria as regards citizens and households just before the consequences of the global economic crisis, as well as the efforts of local people to maintain a quality standard of living, are the main reasons which increase the burden of individual customers’ loans in the loan portfolio of bank institutions. The worsening of economic indicators in the country after the beginning of 2009 forces the banking institutions to change their behaviour on the credit market and to seek effective ways to limit the ever increasing non-performing loans among the population. The purpose of the current study is to trace the tendencies in the change of volume and quality of the banks’ overall consumer loan portfolio for the period December 2006 – June 2012, and to outline the main reasons of the worsened quality of loans extended to individuals for current needs by the local commercial banks.

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  RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR INVESTMENT SELECTION – THEORY AND PRACTICE

  The paper reviews risk assessment for selection of investments in terms of em-pirical derivation and estimation of beta coefficients on the capital market in Bulgaria. It aims to develop some theoretical aspects regarding risk assessment for investment se-lection as well as to provide empirical derivation and trend analysis of the beta ... The paper reviews risk assessment for selection of investments in terms of em-pirical derivation and estimation of beta coefficients on the capital market in Bulgaria. It aims to develop some theoretical aspects regarding risk assessment for investment se-lection as well as to provide empirical derivation and trend analysis of the beta coeffi-cient values of leading Bulgarian public companies included in the SOFIX index. The paper is structured in four main parts according to its subject matter, goal and objec-tives. The first part reviews the current objectives and the theoretical grounds of in-vestment management. The second part focuses on the possibilities to include risk into the investment analysis. The third part analyzes the methodological framework for in-vestment selection. The fourth part presents an empirical study of the beta coefficients of the SOFIX companies for the period 2007-2012, identifies trends and proposes cor-porate grouping according to their capacity to restore market capitalization to the pre-crisis levels. The results show that two of the leading Bulgarian companies (i.e. 13.3% of the total number of companies in the index) have betas exceeding 1.25 (based on monthly data for the period Sept. 2007 - Sept. 2012), seven companies (46.7% of the index) have beta coefficients between 0.75 and 1.25 and six companies (40% of the index) have conservative betas of less than 0.75.

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  REAL OPTIONS – THE NEW PARADIGM IN INVESTMENT DECISION MAKING

  Financial theory has long tried to impose discounted cash flows techniques as a revolutionary approach in evaluating investment alternatives, offering a more accurate and complete idea of the potential in creating a value replacing the „Payback period” that has long been used in capital budgeting. Discounting of cash flows had been the main and ... Financial theory has long tried to impose discounted cash flows techniques as a revolutionary approach in evaluating investment alternatives, offering a more accurate and complete idea of the potential in creating a value replacing the „Payback period” that has long been used in capital budgeting. Discounting of cash flows had been the main and indisputable paradigm in making investment decisions prior to the emergence of a real options analysis (ROA) - an application of the theory of financial options in capital budgeting. Real options enhance valuation by embedding flexibility in capital budgeting procedures – the ability of firms to react adequately to favorable or adverse changes in the economic environment, competition or markets. Real options analysis is the perfect approach in evaluating long-term investments and it will not be long before it replaces completely the traditional tools in capital budgeting.