you are the new finance manager of JB the board of director asks you to submit a one page report on whether JB is creating or will create a "Value"

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline & 1999 & 1998 & 1997 & 1996 & 1995 & 1994 \\ \hline 1 Net sales & $237.0 & $209.2 & $174.2 & $167.2 & $155.3 & $148.8 \\ \hline - 2 Cost of sales & 145.3 & 136.2 & 114.3 & 115.2 & 109.1 & 109.8 \\ \hline 3 Gross profit & 91,8 & 73.0 & 59.9 & 51.9 & 46.2 & 39.0 \\ \hline 4 Selling, general, \& administrative expenses & 82.9 & 63.9 & 53.5 & 45.5 & 36.4 & 36.3 \\ \hline 5 Earnings before interest and taxes & 8.9 & 9.1 & 6.4 & 6.4 & 9.8 & 2.8 \\ \hline 6 Net income & 8.0 & 6.2 & 3.9 & 3.9 & 5.9 & (1.9) \\ \hline 7 Working capital & $42.8 & $48.4 & $51.4 & $50,1 & $51,0 & $37.5 \\ \hline 8 Total assets & 150.6 & 149.5 & .146,5 & $136.7 & 131.1 & 120.3 \\ \hline 9 Long-term debt and oblighations & 16.7 & 20.5 & 25.7 & 31.1 & 32.0 & 32.4 \\ \hline 10 Stockholders' equity & 89.4 & 90.9 & 86.9 & 82.7 & 78.5 & 72.5 \\ \hline \multicolumn{7}{|l|}{ Per-share figures: } \\ \hline Sales & $31.34 & & & & & \\ \hline Earnings & $1.06 & & & & & \\ \hline Book equity & $11.82 & & & & & \\ \hline Gross margin (3/1) & 38.7% & 34.9% & 34.4% & 31.0% & 29.7% & 26.2% \\ \hline Operating margin (5/1) & 3.8% & 4.3% & 3.7% & 3.8% & 6.3% & 1.9% \\ \hline Net income margin (6/1) & 3.4% & 3.0% & 2.2% & 2.3% & 3.8% & 1.3% \\ \hline Asset turnover (1/9) & 1.6 & 1.4 & 1.2 & 1.2 & 1.2 & 1.2 \\ \hline Working capital turnover (1/8) & 5.5 & 4.3 & 3.4 & 3.3 & 3.0 & 4.0 \\ \hline ROA(5[140%]/9) & 3.5% & 3.7% & 2.6% & 2.8% & 4.5% & 1.4% \\ \hline ROE(6/11) & 8.9% & 6.8% & 4.5% & 4.7% & 7.5% & 2.6% \\ \hline \multicolumn{7}{|l|}{ Field to maturity on 30 -year U.S. } \\ \hline Treasury bonds (DataStream) & 6.5% & 5.1% & 5.9% & 6.6% & 6.0% & 7.9% \\ \hline \end{tabular}