STÉPHANIE ÉMOND, FOUNDER AND CO-OWNER OF BALNEA

The eldest of three girls, Stéphanie Émond grew up under the wing of an entrepreneur father. From a young age, her creativity and curiosity always led her further. As a teenager, while working in the family business, she never stayed in her office for long and wanted to explore everything there was to explore. By founding the Balnea spa with her father in the heart of the lush nature of Bromont in 2005, this travel and yoga enthusiast combined her three passions for hospitality, design and well-being. “When I was little, the spa was part of the family après-ski ritual,” explains Stéphanie, who describes herself as a great unifier. “I was always the one who hosted and organized receptions with my loved ones. I lived in Barcelona and the Spanish Inn was my home!” Over the years, several projects have been added to Balnea, such as the Lumami restaurant, the Balnea Spa Voyage at Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau International Airport and the L'été des chefs event.

His business acumen also led him to found Kabãl Design in 2016, a creative collective that offers consulting services for international firms.

© Jimmy Hamelin

UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL JARGON – CONCEPTS TO MASTER

Solutions from the School of Entrepreneurs of Quebec

Financial jargon is both complex and niche. It’s a language mastered by experts at financial institutions and long-time investors. It can be difficult, even intimidating, to engage with these professionals when conversations are peppered with “ROI,” “EBITDA,” and “leverage.” Here are some key words and concepts that are fundamental to learning the language of finance.

Financial statements are a company's primary source of financial information. They consist of three documents that describe different facets of its financial health:

1- The balance sheet: the assets and obligations of a company.

2- The income statement: the performance of sales and expenses that translate into annual profit.

3- The cash flow statement: cash inflows and outflows according to the company's different activities.

A SHORT GLOSSARY OF FINANCIAL JARGON

ROI – Return on investment of invested capital

In simple words: how much does the money invested return to us annually? ROI is usually calculated by dividing the annual profit by the money invested in the business.

Leverage

When a company borrows money at a lower interest rate than its return, it uses the money it raises to make more money. This is the concept of leverage. In short, if a company borrows at a rate of 5% and uses that money to generate profits of 8%, it will have created a leverage of 3% (i.e. 8 – 5%).

EBITDA – Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization

It is a pure performance measure of sorts. The science behind it attempts to determine the financial performance of the company's normal operations and everything it controls. To calculate EBITDA, you simply take net income, which is the profit after all the company's expenses, and add back the expense of taxes, depreciation and interest. This gives a snapshot of how the company's operations are performing before certain expenses are applied and is a measure of earnings that is more closely aligned with the company's actual operations.

Gross margin

Gross margin defines the amount we have left in our pockets, resulting from sales, after expenses directly related to production. It is therefore the amount left over to pay all other bills such as rent, electricity, insurance, etc.

A TOOL FOR DEEPER EXPLORATION

We recommend that you find a small guide that is similar to a dictionary of financial terms and invest a few minutes to find a ton of words that you can add to your language. All financial institutions (like BMO or BDC to name a few) produce this type of reference guide: a quick search in your favorite search engine with the terms "financial jargon" will allow you to get your hands on these tools!