Question

Case Study:

Morton Mercado, the CFO of Kanton Company, carefully developed the estimates of the firm's total funds requirements for the coming year. These are shown in the following table:

Month	Total Funds	Month	Total Funds
January	$1,000,000	July	$6,000,000
February	$1,000,000	August	$5,000,000
March	$2,000,000	September	$5,000,000
April	$3,000,000	October	$4,000,000
May	$5,000,000	November	$2,000,000
June	$7,000,000	December	$1,000,000

In addition, Morton expects short-term financing costs of about 10% and long-term financing costs of about 14% during that period. He developed the three possible financing strategies that follow:

Strategy 1 - Aggressive: Finance seasonal needs with short-term finds and permanent needs with long-term funds.

Strategy 2 - Conservative: Finance an amount equal to the peak need with long-term funds and use short-term funds only in an emergency.

Strategy 3 - Tradeoff: Finance $3,000,000 with long-term funds and finance the remaining funds requirements with short-term funds.

Using data on the firm's total funds requirements, Morton estimated the average annual short-term and long-term financing requirements for each strategy in the coming year, as shown in the following table.

	AVERAGE	ANNUAL	FINANCING
Type of Financing	Strategy 1 Aggressive	Strategy 2 Conservative	Strategy 3 Tradeoff
Short-term	$2,500,000	$0	$1,666,667
Long-term	$1,000,000	$7,000,000	$3,000,000

To ensure that, along with spontaneous financing from accounts payable and accruals, adequate short-term financing will be available, Morton plans to establish an unsecured short-term borrowing arrangement with its local bank, Third National. The bank has offered either a line-of-credit agreement or a revolving credit agreement. Third National's terms for a line of credit are an interest rate of 2.50% above the prime rate, and the borrowing must be reduced to zero for a 30-day period during the year. On an equivalent revolving credit agreement, the interest rate would be 3% above prime with a commitment fee of 0.50% on the average unused balance.

Under both loans, a compensating balance equal to 20% of the amount borrowed would be required. The prime rate is currently 7%. Both the line-of-credit agreement and the revolving credit agreement would have borrowing limits of $1,000,000. For purposes of his analysis, Morton estimates that Kanton will borrow $600,000 on the average during the year, regardless of which financing strategy and loan arrangement it chooses. (Note: assume a 365-day year.)

Case Study Questions:

a. Determine the total annual cost of each of the three possible financing strategies.

b. Assuming that the firm expects its current assets to total $4 million throughout the year, determine the average amount of net working capital under each financing strategy. (Hint: Current liabilities equal average short-term financing.)

c. Using the net working capital found in part b as a measure of risk, discuss the profitability-risk trade-off associated with each financing strategy. Which strategy would you recommend to Morton Mercado for Kanton Company? Why?

d. Find the effective annual rate under: 1) the line-of-credit agreement and 2) the revolving credit agreement. (Hint: Find the ratio of the dollars that the firm will pay in interest and commitment fees to the dollars that the firm will effectively have use of.)

e. If the firm expects to borrow an average of $600,000, which borrowing arrangement would you recommend to Kanton? Why?

Answer 1

A: Determine the total annual cost of each of the three possible financing strategies. The data was made available within the case information.

Average Annual Financing
Type of Financing	Strategy 1 (Aggressive)	Strategy 2 (Conservative)	Strategy 3 (Tradeoff)
Short-Term	$2,500,000	$ 0.00	$1,666,667
Long-Term	1,000,000	$7,000,000	$3,000,000
Cost	$390,000	$980,000	$536,667
Short-Term Financing costs = 10%     Long-Term Financing costs = 14%
Aggressive Strategy
Required amount: $2,500,000 short term and $1,000,000 long term
Cost: (10% x $2,500,000) + (14% x $1,000,000) = $390,000
Conservative Strategy
Required amount: $7,000,000 long term and $0 short term
Cost: (14% x $7,000,000) = $980,000
Trade-off strategy
Monthly average: Permanent = $3,000,000
Seasonal = $1,166,667 (all seasonal requirements / 12)
Seasonal = $1,166,667 ($14,000,000/ 12)
Cost: (10% x $1,166,667) + (14% x $3,000,000) = $536,667

B:Assume that the firm expects its current assets to total $4 million throughout the year.

Current liabilities = Avg. short-term financing

The short-term figures were used here:

Type of Financing	Strategy 1 (Aggressive)	Strategy 2 (Conservative)	Strategy 3 (Tradeoff)
Short-Term	$2,500,000	$ 0.00	$1,666,667
Strategy	Computation	Avg. Amt. of Net Working Capital for ea. Strategy
Aggressive	$4,000,000 - $2,500,000 = $1,500,000	$1,500,000
Conservative	$4,000,000 - $0 = $4,000,000	$4,000,000
Trade-off	$4,000,000 - $1,166,667 = $2,833,333	$2,833,333

C: Discuss profitability risk trade off associated with each financing strategy. Which strategy would you recommend to Morton Mercado for Kanton Company? Why?

Strategy	Profitability Analysis
Aggressive	With an avg. of $1,500,000 working capital – this option compared to the others is the worst performing strategy; the company will need the ability to forecast their short term credits this is just not enough working capital after everything is transacted.
Conservative	With an avg. of $4,000,000 working capital will allow the company to have the highest capital amongst the rest of the choices, but is not my choice, due to the risks associated to excess capital or no capital. Cost the most for the long term approach.
Trade-off	With an avg. of $2,833,333 working capital is my choice, it is flexible, and also allows the company to have the money available when needed.

D: Find the effective annual rate under:

The Line of credit agreement:

Amt. Borrowed: $600,000

Prime Rate: 7%

Interest Rate: 2.5%

=$600,000 * (7% + 2.5%)

= $600,000 * 9.5%

=$57,000

Interest/available amount

= $57,000/ ($600,000 * 80%)

= $57,000/ $480,000

= 11.88%

The Revolving credit agreement:

Amt. Borrowed: $600,000

Prime Rate: 7%

Interest Rate: 3.0%

Commitment Fee: 50%

=$600,000 * (7% + 3.0%)

=$600,000 * 10%

= $60,000

Commitment fee

=$400,000 * 50%

= $2,000

=$60,000 + $2,000

=$62,000

=$62,000/ $600,000 * 80%

=$62,000/ $480,000

= 12.92%

E: If the firm expects to borrow an average of $600,000, which borrowing arrangement would you recommend to Kanton? Explain why?

If cost is the concern of the organization then I would choose the Line of credit option, this option is a little cheaper than the revolving fund option. If flexibility with funding requirement were the #1 priority, then I would choose the revolving option, the funds are more available to the company than the line of credit option. With this option, there is a 1% of extra costs that are tied to the decision. This would be presented to Kanton, the same ways as I just presented the data above.