Source Arab News April 05, 2018: Richard Wachman Green energy drive will boost KSA employment: Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy chief Tuki Mohammed Al-Shehri is head of Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office. London: In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Turki Mohammed Al-Shehri explains how an expanding renewables industry will boost employment as well as pave the way for a greener future. *** Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled plans to develop the world’s biggest solar power project for $200 billion. A massive investment drive in green energy projects across Saudi Arabia is about creating jobs as well as diversifying the energy mix away from oil, according to the Kingdom’s renewables chief. Last week Saudi Arabia revealed ambitious plans to produce 200 gigawatts of solar power by 2030, helping the country become a leading exporter of sustainable energy. In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Turki Mohammed Al-Shehri, head of Saudi Arabia’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office (Repdo), said jobs and “local content” are guiding principles of the Kingdom’s renewables program. “A fundamental cornerstone of these projects will be local content. Local content is key — it is being stipulated in tenders,” said Al-Shehri in an interview in London. He said: “The idea is that the products and components that are used in these farms (turbines, panels, hoists and other parts) are brought in from local factories, and the idea is to grow the industry organically; we want local factories to also export outside the Kingdom, ensuring the creation of jobs, and this will make sure that everything that is built in the Kingdom will be on a competitive global basis.” Al-Shehri told Bloomberg in January that eight renewables tenders would be issued this year for 4.125 gigawatts of capacity at a cost of between $5 billion and $7 billion. Asked by Arab News if the Kingdom would also need foreign investment to develop the sector, Al-Shehri replied: “Due to the size of the projects, we do need foreign investment experience and know-how, yes.” In terms of the nuts and bolts of how renewable tenders would work, he pointed to the example of Riyadh-based Acwa Power, which recently won the contract to build the Kingdom’s first utility-scale solar photovoltaic plant. “As long as they meet our local content requirement of 30 percent as well as other stipulations, where and how they source the technology is up to them,” he said. “The objective is to have an economic energy mix, driven by low-cost energy, and to ensure that local competitive industry is created in the Kingdom.” By building up solar and wind-power generation, KSA will free up oil reserves for export, strengthening the country’s balance sheet. Last week Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled plans to develop the world’s biggest solar power project for $200 billion in partnership with Japan’s SoftBank. The memorandum of understanding aims to produce up to 200 gigawatts of power by 2030 — about 100 times the capacity of the current biggest projects. If built on one site, the solar farm would cover an area twice the size of Hong Kong, according to a Bloomberg News calculation. Acwa Power CEO Paddy Padmanathan, who along with Al-Shehri attended London’s recent Saudi-UK CEO Forum, said: “Personally, I think they (renewables) could make up 40 percent of the (KSA) energy mix in 2030.” Turning to his company’s success in February, 2018, of being awarded the 300-megawatt PV solar project in Sakaka, Padmanathan said: “The tender was a rigorous, transparent process at a new world-record tariff and will set the foundation for a robust and competitive market for renewable energy in the Kingdom.” The 25-year Sakaka power purchase contract was awarded to Acwa at a new world-record tariff of 8.781 halala/kWh (per kilowatt hour) (2.3417 cents/kWh). Middle Eastern oil producers are looking to renewables to meet growing domestic consumption and would rather export as much oil as possible to generate income to meet internationally recognized green energy standards, such as those in the Paris climate accord, while also reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Saudi Arabia wants to deploy more natural gas, as well as solar and wind, to reduce its dependence on oil-based power generation. Developing a renewable energy industry is a key plank of Saudi Vision 2030. The Sakaka plant, which Acwa has already started constructing in Al-Jawf province, is backed by a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Saudi Power Procurement Company. Last year the Kingdom also tendered a 400 megawatt wind project — its first — at Dumat Al-Jandal, for which Repdo prequalified a number of companies in 2017. In a recent interview with Arab News, Adnan Amin, director-general of the International Renewable Agency, said renewables were incredibly cheap now. “The latest bids for Saudi solar projects are around 2.5 US cents per kWh, which is about a quarter of the cost of oil,” he said. Victoria Cuming, head of policy covering Europe, Middle East and Africa for Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), told Arab News: “Looking at the MENA region as a whole, renewables should both replace fossil fuel and add to the mix, as electricity demand will double by 2040, according to BNEF forecasts.” She expected the region to see a significant shift in the capacity mix, from being 93 percent fossil fuels today to just under half renewables in 2040, according to BNEF’s New Energy Outlook 2017. Cuming said: “In the near term, this will be mainly driven by incentives such as auctions, but in less than a decade the shift will be driven by the economics. Utility-scale PV plants are already cheaper than combined-cycle gas plants in net importing countries such as Egypt.” Provided governments continue to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies, “this will be the case across MENA by 2025. Ten years later, onshore wind farms will be cheaper than gas,” said Cuming. ASSIGNMENT

1. Discuss how renewable energy sector can grow organically. What are the benefits to Saudi Arabia.

2. Conduct SWOT analysis for ACWA.

Assume that on September 1 Office Depot had an inventory that included a variety of calculators. The company uses a perpetual inventory system. During September these transactions occurred.

Sept. 6 Purchased calculators from Green Box Co. at a total cost of $1,620, terms n/30.

9 Paid freight of $50 on calculators purchased from Green Box Co.

10 Returned calculators to Green Box Co. for $38 credit because they did not meet specifications.

12 Sold calculators costing $520 for $780 to University Book Store, terms n/30.

14 Granted credit of $45 to University Book Store for the return of one calculator that was not ordered. The calculator cost $28.

20 Sold calculators costing $570 for $900 to Campus Card Shop, terms n/30.

Journalize the Septemper transactions?

Problem 2-03A a-d (Video)

Tom Zopf owns and manages a computer repair service, which had the following trial balance on December 31, 2019 (the end of its fiscal year).

Summarized transactions for January 2020 were as follows.

Post the journal entries to the accounts in the ledger. (Post entries in the order of journal entries presented in the previous part.)

Suppose that the current market price of the stock of Company X is $ 872. Suppose that you expect that the news release by Company X will cause at least ca 10% movement in the market price of its stock by Dec. 4th, 2020. However, you are not sure whether there will be a downward adjustment or an upward adjustment of the market price. Describe briefly a trading strategy involving call and (or) put options that accounts for this expectation. Use graph to demonstrate the payoffs and identify clearly your pay-offs from each option position as well as from the overall position at the date of expiry (please consider the price range of $600 to $1200 on the graph) and mark clearly the numerical values of break-even stock prices related to your strategy. Suppose that the call and put options, which are available on the market and can be used for the construction of trading strategy, are following:

COUPLE INTERVIEW

You are asked to interview a couple who has been married or cohabitating for at least five continuous years and write a paper which summarizes both the interview content and your personal observations and thoughts about the relationship. The interview must be conducted with both parties present at the same time and the interview must be a minimum of 45 minutes long.

Use the following outline to structure your interview and paper:

I. Introduction: Introduce your topic (marriage and family life) and include information about the couple. Be sure to use a fictitious name to protect the confidentiality of the couple. Include information about the couple such as; race, religion, ethnicity, ages, years together as a couple, number and ages of children (if any), how long have you known them, why did you select them, is this a same-sex couple, inter-faith, inter-racial, etc.

II. Body: Address the following issues at a minimum:

A. The history of the relationship – how did they meet, what was the initial attraction, what made them decide to commit to a long-term relationship, etc.?

B. How do they structure their family – traditional vs. non-traditional roles, occupational and child care concerns, etc.? Be sure to refer to your textbook for appropriate terms and definitions.

C. How do they communicate? Pay attention to their statements and body language, as well as your personal observations and experiences. How do they make family decisions?

D. What have been the most challenging times in their relationship? How have they worked through those issues?

III. Analysis:  Address the following items, at a minimum:

A. Do you consider this to be a successful relationship? Why or why not?

B. What “type” of marriage or relationship would you categorize this relationship to be? Explain your answer.

C. What qualities of this relationship would you like to have in your own relationship? How would you create these qualities in your relationship? What type of efforts would you be willing to make to retain those qualities in your relationship?

D. What qualities would you want to avoid? How would you avoid them? What preventative measure would you take in your relationships?

E. What have you learned about committed relationships from your interview with this couple? How will you apply this information to your personal life?

On November 14, Thorogood Enterprises announced that the public and acrimonious battle with its current CEO had been resolved. Under the terms of the deal, the CEO would step down from his position immediately. In exchange, he was given a generous severance package. Given the information below, calculate the cumulative abnormal return (CAR) around this announcement. Assume the company has an expected return equal to the market return. (A negative value should be indicated by a minus sign. Leave no cells blank - be certain to enter "0" wherever required. Do not round intermediate calculations. Round your answers to 1 decimal place.)

Interview a program/project manager; it can be inside your organization or external to your organization, preferably this individual has more than ten-years’ experience in the profession.

ask the following:

What is your approach to managing a project?

What is your school of thought on project management? Do you prefer waterfall, agile methods etc.?

What skills does a program manager need to have in today’s market?

What is the greatest challenge as a program manager?

Where do you see program management going in the future?

How do you handle politics and conflict?

Write a 2 to 4 paragraph summary of the interview, from the above questions.

create a presentation where you present yourself as if you were in a mock- interview for a medical office management position. include a minimum of 5 questions that you think would be asked in an interview situation also answer the questions listed out of the five.

STEPHENSON REAL ESTATE RECAPITALIZATION Stephenson Real Estate Company was founded 25 years ago by the current CEO, Robert Stephenson. The company purchases real estate, including land and buildings, and rents the property to tenants. The company has shown a profit every year for the past 18 years and the shareholders are satisfied with the company’s management. Prior to founding Stephenson Real Estate, Robert was the founder and CEO of a failed alpaca farming operation. The resulting bankruptcy made him extremely averse to debt financing. As a result, the company is entirely equity financed, with 12 million shares of common stock outstanding. The stock currently trades at $53.80 per share. Stephenson is evaluating a plan to purchase a tract of land in the southeastern United States for $49 million. The land will subsequently be leased to tenant farmers. This purchase is expected to increase Stephenson’s annual pretax earnings by $11.5 million in perpetuity. Kim Weyand, the company’s new CFO, has been put in charge of the project. Kim has determined that the company’s current cost of capital is 10.5 percent. She feels that the company would be more valuable if it included debt in its capital structure, so she is evaluating whether the company should issue debt to entirely finance the project. Based on some conversations with investment banks, she thinks that the company can issue bonds at par value with a coupon rate of 7 percent. Based on her analysis, she also believes that a capital structure in the range of 70 percent equity/30 percent debt would be optimal. If the company goes beyond 30 percent debt, its bonds would carry a lower rating and a much higher coupon because the possibility of financial distress and the associated costs would rise sharply. Stephenson has a 21 percent corporate tax rate (state and federal).

1.If Stephenson wishes to maximize its total market value, would you recommend that it issue debt or equity to finance the land purchase? Explain.

2.Construct Stephenson’s market value balance sheet before it announces the purchase.

3.Suppose Stephenson decides to issue equity to finance the purchase.

a.What is the net present value of the project?

b.Construct Stephenson’s market value balance sheet after it announces that the firm will finance the purchase using equity. What would be the new price per share of the firm’s stock? How many shares will Stephenson need to issue to finance the purchase?

c.Construct Stephenson’s market value balance sheet after the equity issue but before the purchase has been made. How many shares of common stock does Stephenson have outstanding? What is the price per share of the firm’s stock?

d.Construct Stephenson’s market value balance sheet after the purchase has been made.

4.Suppose Stephenson decides to issue debt to finance the purchase.

a.What will the market value of Stephenson be if the purchase is financed with debt?

b.Construct Stephenson’s market value balance sheet after both the debt issue and the land purchase. What is the price per share of the firm’s stock?

5.Which method of financing maximizes the per-share stock price of Stephenson’s equity?