English at Work

English at Work > Unit 6 > Resources

Reporting the Sales Figures

You are going to hear the Marketing and Sales Manager of a large multi-national company reporting on the company's sales figures for the first half of the year.

Below, you will find a graph, without the figures written in. As you listen to the sales report, write the sales figures for each month.

Jan	Feb	Mar
($9m-$10m)	($14.5m)	($34m)

Jun	Apr	May
($38.5m)	(30m)	(31.4m)

Listen again and take notes of the phrases which describe the figures for each month.
e.g. after a slow start / started out at $9m / rose to 10m

sales	Phrases describing sales
January	after a slow start / started out at $9m / rose to 10m
February
March
April
May
June

Now looking at the filled in graph, try to describe the sales figures yourself.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
$9m-$10m	$14.5m	$34m	$38.5m	30m	31.4m

sales	Phrases describing sales
January	after a slow start; started out at $9m; rose to 10m
February	there was a slight increase; went up to 14.5m
March	a dramatic increase; shot up to a staggering 34m
April	the increase continued ; sales peaked at 38.5m
May	a slight fall ; figures hit the 30m mark
June	they seemed to stabilise there; were much the same at 31.4m