Question

Lon Timur is an accounting major at a midwestern state university located approximately 60 miles from a major city. Many of the students attending the university are from the metropolitan area and visit their homes regularly on the weekends. Lon, an entrepreneur at heart, realizes that few good commuting alternatives are available for students doing weekend travel. He believes that a weekend commuting service could be organized and run profitably from several suburban and downtown shopping mall locations. Lon has gathered the following investment information.

1.		Five used vans would cost a total of $75,300 to purchase and would have a 3-year useful life with negligible salvage value. Lon plans to use straight-line depreciation.
2.		Ten drivers would have to be employed at a total payroll expense of $47,990.
3.		Other annual out-of-pocket expenses associated with running the commuter service would include Gasoline $15,990, Maintenance $3,310, Repairs $4,000, Insurance $4,200, and Advertising $2,510.
4.		Lon has visited several financial institutions to discuss funding. The best interest rate he has been able to negotiate is 15%. Use this rate for cost of capital.
5.		Lon expects each van to make ten round trips weekly and carry an average of six students each trip. The service is expected to operate 30 weeks each year, and each student will be charged $12.05 for a round-trip ticket.

(a)

Determine the annual (1) net income and (2) net annual cash flows for the commuter service. (Round answers to 0 decimal places, e.g. 125.)

Net income		$ ??????
Net annual cash flows		$ ??????

(b)

Compute (1) the cash payback period and (2) the annual rate of return. (Round answers to 2 decimal places, e.g. 10.50.)

Cash payback period			???? years
Annual rate of return			???? %

(c)

Compute the net present value of the commuter service. (Round answer to 0 decimal places, e.g. 125. If the net present value is negative, use either a negative sign preceding the number eg -45 or parentheses eg (45). For calculation purposes, use 5 decimal places as displayed in the factor table provided.)

Net present value

?

Answer 1

Solution a:

Computation of annual income - Commuter service
Particulars	Amount
Sales Revenue (5*10*30*6*$12.05)	$1,08,450
Cost:
Gasoline	$15,990
Maintenance	$3,310
Repairs	$4,000
Insurance	$4,200
Advertising	$2,510
Payroll expense	$47,990
Depreciation ($75300/3)	$25,100
Net Annual Income	$5,350
Computation of Cash Flows - Commuter service
Particulars	Amount
Net Annual Income	$5,350
Add: Depreciation	$25,100
Annual cash flows	$30,450

Solution b:

Cash payback period = Initial investment / Annual cash inflows = $75300 / $30,450 = 2.47 years

Annual rate of return = Average annual income / Average investment

Average investment = (Cost + Salvage value) / 2 = $75300/2 = $37650

Annual rate of return = $5350 / $37650 = 14.21%

Solution c:

Computation of NPV - Commuter service
Particulars	Amount	Period	PV Factor	Present Value
Cash Outflows:
Cost of Investment	$75,300.00	0	1	$75,300
Present Value of Cash Outflows (A)				$75,300
Cash Inflows:
Annual cash inflows	$30,450.00	1-3	2.28323	$69,524
Present Value of Cash Inflows (B)				$69,524
Net Present Value (B-A)				-$5,776