Question

Income statements and balance sheets follow for The New York Times Company. Refer to these financial statements to answer the requirements.

The New York Times Company Consolidated Statements of Income
	Fiscal year ended
(in thousands)	Dec. 29, 2016	Dec. 30, 2015
Revenues
Circulation	$ 880,543	$ 851,790
Advertising	580,732	638,709
Other	94,067	88,716
Total revenues	1,555,342	1,579,215
Production costs
Wages and benefits	363,051	354,516
Raw materials	72,325	77,176
Other	192,728	186,120
Total production costs	628,104	617,812
Selling, general and administrative costs	721,083	713,837
Depreciation and amortization	61,723	61,597
Total operating costs	1,410,910	1,393,246
Restructuring charge	14,804	0
Multiemployer pension plan withdrawal expense	6,730	9,055
Pension settlement charges	21,294	40,329
Early termination charge	0	0
Operating profit	101,604	136,585
Loss from joint ventures	(36,273)	(783)
Interest expense, net	34,805	39,050
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	30,526	96,752
Income tax expense/(benefit)	4,421	33,910
Income from continuing operations	26,105	62,842
Loss from discontinued operations, net of income taxes	(2,273)	0
Net income	23,832	62,842
Net loss attributable to the noncontrolling interest	5,236	404
Net income attributable to The New York Times Company common stockholders	$29,068	$63,246

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The New York Times Company Consolidated Balance Sheets
	As of
(in thousands)	Dec. 29, 2016	Dec. 30, 2015
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 100,692	$ 105,776
Short-term investments	449,535	507,639
Accounts receivable, net	197,355	207,180
Prepaid assets	15,948	19,430
Other current assets	32,648	22,507
Total current assets	796,178	862,532
Long-term marketable securities	187,299	291,136
Investments in joint ventures	15,614	22,815
Property plant and equipment, net	596,743	632,439
Goodwill	134,517	109,085
Deferred income taxes	301,342	309,142
Miscellaneous assets	153,702	190,541
Total assets	$2,185,395	$2,417,690
Accounts payable	$   104,463	$    96,082
Accrued payroll and other related liabilities	96,463	98,256
Unexpired subscriptions	66,686	60,184
Current portion of long-term debt	0	188,377
Accrued expenses and other	131,125	120,686
Total current liabilities	398,737	563,585
Long-term debt and capital lease obligations	246,978	242,851
Pension benefits obligation	558,790	627,697
Postretirement benefits obligation	57,999	62,879
Other	78,647	92,223
Total other liabilities	942,414	1,025,650
Stockholders’ equity
Common stock of $0.10 par value
Class A common stock	16,921	16,826
Class B convertible stock	82	82
Additional paid-in capital	149,928	146,348
Retained earnings	1,331,911	1,328,744
Common stock held in treasury, at cost	(171,211)	(156,155)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax	(479,816)	(509,094)
Total New York Times Company stockholders’ equity	847,815	826,751
Noncontrolling interest	(3,571)	1,704
Total stockholders’ equity	844,244	828,455
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$2,185,395.	$2,185,395

d. Compute return on common shareholders equity (ROE) for 2016 and 2015. Stockholders’ equity attributable to New York Times Company in 2014 is $726,328 thousand.

e. What is nonoperating return component of ROE for 2016 and 2015?

f.    Comment on the difference between ROE and RNOA. What inference do you draw from this comparison?

Answer 1

Soln : d) We need to calculate the ROE for year 2015 and 2016

Step1 : Calculate the Shareholders equity on average basis, it can be done taking shareholders equity at end and beginning of year.

For 2015 : Stockholders equity in beginning of 2015 = $726328 thousand and in the end of 2015 = $828455

Avg. of both = (726328+828455)/2 = 1554783/2 = $777391.50

Step 2 : get the net profit from the P & L statement at the end of year, NP = $63246

Step 3: Return on Equity = NP/Avg. stakeholders value = 63246/777391.50 = 8.14% (approx.)

Similarly we will calculate for year 2016:

Average value of stockholders equity = (828455 + 844244)/2 = 1672699/2 = 886349.50

Reurn on equity for 2016 = 29068/886349.50 = 3.28%

e) For nonoperating return component of ROE , we need to calculate RNOA = Return on net operating assets

RNOA = NOPAT/Avg. net operating asset

Again avg. can be claculated using the data from balance sheet

NOA = Total asset of company - All liabilities - All financial assets and liabilities = Operating assets - operating liabilities

For 2015

NOA = (2417690 -507639-291136-22815) -(96082++98256+120686+627697+62879+92223) = 498277

Similarly for 2016, NOA = (2185395-449535-187299-15614) - (1027487) = 505460

NOPAT for year 2015 = operating profit*(1-tax rate) = 136585*(1-0.35) = 88780.25

NOPAT for 2016 = operating profit*(1-tax rate) = 101604*(1-0.35) = 66042.60

RNOA for 2015 = NOPAT /NOA = 88780.25/498277= 17.82%

RNOA for 2016 = 66042.60/501868.50 = 13.16%

Non operating component of ROE = ROE - RNOA

For 2015 , it is = 8.14 - 17.82 = -9.68%

For 2016 , it is = 3.28 - 13.16 = -9.88%

f) As we can see here that in 2015, the value of ROE <RNOA in both the cases, that means the losses from the other activities than operations is more, which makes it a risky company. As all its profit are being eaten by the investments outside the company.