Zephyr and Amadeus (New and old)

In an earlier post I told you about the new Amadeus interface. I said that there were some excellent improvements over the old interface. An example is the way you can find additional company information using information from another database. Identifiers you can upload are for instance: BVDEP ID Numbers, ISIN codes and Sedol codes. The first is, of course, a proprietary code for databases from Bureau Van Dijk.

In the old interface you first need to create a text file that can then be uploaded and this file needs to have a specific name. In the new interface you can upload infromation directly from an excel file without the need to first create a text file. The movie below shows how you can use company information from the database Zephyr to find more company data in Amadeus using both the old and the new interface.

NB: Zephyr has information on Mergers & Acquisitions, Initial Public Offerings and Venture Capital deals with links to financial company information.

Author information: LinkedIn

11:09 PM - 31 January 2010

New Amadeus interface

Last Tuesday I was at a user meeting by Bureau Van Dijk (BvD) where the new interface for Amadeus was presented. The new interface looks very different from the current version. Here is a screen capture of the search screen:

Many changes have been made that make it easier to use. Creating your own customized reports or lists is much easier now and more intuitive. Another change is the expansion of options to upload your own company lists. In the past the BvD website only made it possible to upload BvD identification codes for companies. If you use Amadeus through Wharton it was possible to also upload lists of the following type of codes: Sedol, ISIN or Ticker. In the new interface it is also possible to upload lists of these three types of codes. This makes it a lot easier to gather data from Amadeus using lists from other databases (for instance Datastream).

Uploading a list of codes is now also easier, because in the new website you can upload these lists from an excel file (including Excel 2007) !

Through the BvD website version of Amadeus you can have a look at the Beta version of "Amadeus Neo". This new version will probably replace the current BvD Amadeus interface in June or July of 2010.

For more information on company identifiers please got to the earlier post on this Blog on the subject.

10:21 AM - 12 November 2009

The Dutch BIK classification codes in Amadeus

All companies registered at the Dutch chamber of commerce (= Kamer van Koophandel) get an industry classification code. This code is the "Bedrijfsindeling kamers van Koophandel" (BIK) classification code. The last version of this code can be downloaded here. In addition to a primary BIK code many companies also get a secondary activity BIK code. All codes are a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 6 digits long.

In June 2009 the Dutch Camber of Commerce switched from the 2005 BIK code to the SBI 2008 code (SBI = Standaard BedrijfsIndeling). The SBI code is also used by the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) in the Netherlands and is based on the international NACE code.

The first four digits of the SBI are equal to the ISIC (International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities, international code of the United Nations) and the NACE code (= classification code of the European Union on Economic Activities in the European Community). The fifth digit of the SBI applies specifically to Dutch companies.

On the website of the Dutch Camber of Commerce an overview is published which explains which shows how the BIK codes are translated to SBI codes. An overview of changes in the SBI code version2 (of June 2009) compared to the first version (of April 2009) is also available.

One of the few financial database that has information on Dutch companies is Amadeus of Bureau van Dijk. You can search in this database using the BIK codes. If you want to include the BIK codes in a download you can create a custom report or a custom list. The variable that will list the BIK code for Dutch companies is called the "National Industry Code, primary". The secondary activity code is called "National Industry Code, secondary". The codes can be found in the section "Activities":

If you use Wharton to search in Amadeus the variable that you can use is: NATPRI (Char 6, Primary National Code).

According to Bureau van Dijk the new SBI code will be included in the website version of Amadeus sometime in the next couple of months. The BIK codes will also remain available. The Wharton version of Amadeus will probably be updated next year as this version is updated only once a year.

Note: the variable "National Industry Code" contains different codes for other nations. Click HERE for an overview of the classification codes for other countries.

Author information: LinkedIn

02:11 AM - 1 October 2009

Amadeus & financial statements

Most financial data on companies in Amadeus is consolidated data. Only in some cases is there unconsolidated information available. In the manuals you can find out for which countries/companies this is the case. A standard search will usually get you the consolidated data in the reports and lists, unless this is not available and then you get the unconsolidated data. Reports indicate what type of data is presented/available:

When you are downloading data in list format you can include the variable "Consolidation code". This data type is available under the header. If you want to change the default setting of a search to get you unconsolidated data (unless only consolidated data is available) you can temporarily change the search setting to do this. The new setting will remain active so long as the temporary cookie files of the internet software are not erased !

 The setting can be changed by going to the profile (option at the top right corner of the database screen) and marking the alternative option:

If you search Amadeus through Wharton you can get information on consolidation at step three under variables:

If you want to find consolidated or unconsolidated financial data only from Amadeus you can also use a conditional statement at Step 2.

Author information: LinkedIn

11:43 PM - 7 August 2009

The two faces of Amadeus online

The online database Amadeus from the company Bureau van Dijk (BvD) is available through their website. Some organizations may also have access to the database through the Wharton interface. Here is a short overview of the main differences between both online editions:

1) The content is different.
This has everything to do with the updates. The online edition at the BvD website is updated on a weekly basis. This means that new information is added regularly and changes of older data may also happen sooner. In the last case this may involve restating stock data because of changes in the stocks of a company or changes in reported annual results because of errors or restatements. The Amadeus database which is available through Wharton is updated only once a year (according to BvD). The date of the last update can be found under the Documentation tab:

2) The interface is very different

• The BvD website allows you to more easily search the entire database using conditional statements. Through the Wharton webinterface you are only allowed to combine two conditional statements.
  
• Creating custom reports through the BvD website is slightly more difficult although there are some very nice prefabricated reports. Combinations of data and specific years need to be made to get data listed separately in columns for each year. An earlier post in this blog explains how this works. Custom reports are easier to create through Wharton by just choosing the years you need and marking the financial data items you want.
  
• If you want to load a list of companies to search for annual report data the BvD website only offers the option to load lists based on BvD identification numbers: BVDEP Account Numbers or BVDEP ID Numbers.
  
  
  
  Wharton allows you to load lists of BVDEP Account Numbers but not BVDEP ID Numbers. A major advantage of Wharton is the fact that you can also load lists of the following company identifiers: Sedol, ISIN and Tickers. These are identifiers which can frequently be downloaded as a list from other databases like Datastream, SDC Platinum etc.
  
  
  
• The BvD website has some nice additional features, contextual help information and a link to a Cross-referencing tool for industry-codes.

Author information: LinkedIn

11:23 PM - 31 July 2009