Financial And Labor Productivity Benchmarks On Dillards Incorporated Published

ICON Group International Ltd., today released studies on labor productivity and financial benchmarks for Dillards Incorporated (NYSE:DDS).

What? Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis

How does Dillards Incorporated's balance sheet structure differs from global benchmarks? Does Dillards Incorporated hold more cash and short-term assets, or does it concentrate its assets in physical plant and equipment? Does it have a higher percent of payables compared to the benchmarks? Does it hold a higher concentration of long-term debt? Does Dillards Incorporated have a relatively higher cost of goods sold, operating costs, income taxes, or profit margins compared to global benchmarks?

Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis

Are workers at Dillards Incorporated productive? There is no absolute answer to this economic question. The second study considers how labor deployment and productivity indicators for Dillards Incorporated differ from the global benchmarks. It looks at the amount of labor required to operate Dillards Incorporated and the resulting return on human investment. What is the ratio of short-term and long-term assets to employee? What are comparative capital-labor ratios? What are the average sales and net profits per employee in Dillards Incorporated compared to benchmarks in the same economic sector?

Reports for over 87 Department Stores companies are available now, including the following:

AEON Co., Ltd., Bon Ton Stores, Inc., Dillards Incorporated, Federated Department Stores, Incorporated, Isetan Co Ltd, Ito-Yokado Co., Ltd., Karstadt Quelle AG, Kinki Nippon Railway Co Ltd, Kohls Corporation, Metro AG, Mitsukoshi Ltd., Penney [J C] Co Inc., Rallye, Saks Incorporated, Sears, Roebuck and Co., Shopko Stores Incorporated, Target Corporation, The Daiei Inc, The Daimaru Inc., The May Department Stores Co, Uny Co Ltd, Value City Department Stores, Inc., Vendex KBB N.V., and Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Why? methodologist for this unique study is Philip Parker, Eli Lilly Chair Professor of Innovation, Business and Society at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France and Singapore). According to Professor Parker "With the globalization of markets, greater foreign competition, and the reduction of barriers to entry, it becomes all the more important to benchmark a company's financial indicators on a worldwide basis. World stock markets have recently witnessed a return to fundamental financial analysis. " The goal of the reports is to assist consultants, financial managers, strategic planners, and corporate officers in gauging certain indicators of Dillards Incorporated's financial and human resource structure.

Professor Parker states, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures between Dillards Incorporated and other Department Stores companies. The Earnings Before Interest And Taxes (EBIT), for example, varied from -6.13 to 22.27. We see this type of variation in the hundreds of ratios that we estimate."

How?: Methodology

The report uses a proprietary methodology to generate international financial and human resource benchmarks and measure gaps that might be revealed from such an exercise. Using common-size statements, ICON Group International Ltd. prepares these vertical analyses by pooling statistics on tens of thousands of companies across over 40 countries and applying a seven-stage methodology. (1) identification of industry classifications, (2) firm-level data collection and aggregation, (3) standardization of raw statistics, (4) filtering outliers, (5) calculation of global norms, (6) projection of deviations and gaps, and (7) projection of ranks and percentiles.

Previously available only through booksellers such as Hoovers, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble, two studies are now available direct from the publisher at a 50% discount off the cover price. This special offer includes International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis and Labor Productivity Benchmarks and International Gap Analysis at US$ 199.90 ($99.95 each). E-mail iconsubs@san.rr.com for more information.

About ICON Group Ltd.

ICON Group Ltd. assists managers with global benchmarking, gap analysis, and productivity studies. Clients can create their own benchmarks by choosing their competitors from among over 20,000 companies.

ICON Group Ltd.
4370 La Jolla Village Drive, Fourth Floor
San Diego, CA 92122

Link: www.icongrouponline.com/PR/Dillards_Incorporated_US/PR.html

Important Disclaimer: This report was not prepared on behalf of or for Dillards Incorporated.