XYZ Company is a reputable manufacturer of various especially electronic items. Jay Carter, a recent MBA graduate, has been hired by the company in its finance department. On of the major revenue-producing items manufactured by the XYZ is smartphone. The company currently has one smartphone in the market and sells has been excellent. The smartphone is a unique item in that it comes in a variety of tropical colors and is preprogrammed to play Jimmy Buffett music. However, as with any electronic item, technology changes rapidly, and the current smartphone has limited features in comparison with newer models. The company can manufacture the new smartphone for $300 each in variable costs. Fixed costs for the operation are estimated to run $5.1 million per year. The estimated sales volume is 64,000, 106,000, 87,000, 78,000, and 54,000 unit per year for the next five years, respectively. The unit price of the new smartphone will be $485. The necessary equipment can be purchased for $31 million and will be depreciated on a seven-year MACRS schedule (Use Table A-1 below). It is believed the value of the equipment in five years will be $5.5 million. Net working capital for the smartphones will be one time at $5,000,000 at the beginning of the project (time zero). XYZ has a 35% corporate tax rate and required return of 12%. Jay was asked to prepare a report that answer the following questions: Part 1- (40 Points) 1. What is the project NPV? 2. What is the Project IRR? 3. What is the payback period of the project? 4. What is profitability index of the project? 5. How sensitive is the NPV to change in the price of the new smartphone (assume that the price goes done to $370)? 6. How sensitive is the NPV to change in the quantity sold (assume that quantity reduce by 10%)? Part 2- (25 Points) 1. What is a break-even (quantity)? 2. If the total interest payment be $150,000, what are the degrees of operating and financial leverage? Part 3- (25 Points) Assume that the company has the following capital structure: Debt $15,000,000 Preferred stock $7,5,000,000 Common stock $27,5,000,000 What will be the cost of capital if the company decide to raise the needed capital proportionally and with following costs? Please use the following information to calculate the weighted cost of capital: a. Bond: A 30-year bond with a face value of $1000 and coupon interest rate of 13% and floatation cost of $20 (Tax is 35%) b. Preferred stock: Face value of $35 that pays dividend $5 and floatation cost of $2 c. Common stock: Market value of $54 with floatation cost of $3.5. Last dividend was $6. The dividend will expect to grow at 7%. Part 4 (10 Points) Uses the new cost of capital, calculate the NPV and IRR?

With the growing popularity of casual surf print clothing, two recent MBA graduates decided to broaden this casual surf concept to encompass a “surf lifestyle for the home.” With limited capital, they decided to focus on surf print table and floor lamps to accent people’s homes.

They projected unit sales of these lamps to be 14,000 for each of the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $35,000 in net working capital invested immediately. The working capital will be fully recovered at the end of year 5. Fixed costs are $95,000 per year, variable production costs are $30 per unit, and the units are priced at $65 each.

a. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $500,000. The equipment will be depreciated using the straight-line method over a five-year life and is expected to have a salvage value of $80,000. The effective tax rate is 21 percent, and the required rate of return is 10 percent. What is the Net Present Value of this project?

b. After you complete this task, the two entrepreneurs want you to tell them what the impact on the NPV would be if the Production cost per unit increased to $45.  

XYZ Company is a reputable manufacturer of various especially electronic items. Jay Carter, a recent MBA graduate, has been hired by the company in its finance department.

On of the major revenue-producing items manufactured by the XYZ is smartphone. The company currently has one smartphone in the market and sells has been excellent. The smartphone is a unique item in that it comes in a variety of tropical colors and is preprogrammed to play Jimmy Buffett music. However, as with any electronic item, technology changes rapidly, and the current smartphone has limited features in comparison with newer models.

The company can manufacture the new smartphone for $300 each in variable costs. Fixed costs for the operation are estimated to run $5.1 million per year. The estimated sales volume is 64,000, 106,000, 87,000, 78,000, and 54,000 unit per year for the next five years, respectively.

The unit price of the new smartphone will be $485. The necessary equipment can be purchased for $31 million and will be depreciated on a seven-year MACRS schedule (Use Table A-1 below). It is believed the value of the equipment in five years will be $5.5 million.

Net working capital for the smartphones will be one time at $5,000,000 at the beginning of the project (time zero). XYZ has a 35% corporate tax rate and required return of 12%.

Jay was asked to prepare a report that answer the following questions:

1. What is the project NPV?
2. What is the Project IRR?
3. What is the payback period of the project?
4. What is profitability index of the project?
5. How sensitive is the NPV to change in the price of the new smartphone (assume that the price goes done to $370)?
6. How sensitive is the NPV to change in the quantity sold (assume that quantity reduce by 10%)?

Part 2- (25 Points)

1. What is a break-even (quantity)?
2. If the total interest payment be $150,000, what are the degrees of operating and financial leverage?

Assume that the company has the following capital structure:

What will be the cost of capital if the company decide to raise the needed capital proportionally and with following costs? Please use the following information to calculate the weighted cost of capital:

1. Bond:

A 30-year bond with a face value of $1000 and coupon interest rate of 13% and floatation cost of $20 (Tax is 35%)

2. Preferred stock:

Face value of $35 that pays dividend $5 and floatation cost of $2

3. Common stock:

Market value of $54 with floatation cost of $3.5. Last dividend was $6. The dividend will expect to grow at 7%.

Uses the new cost of capital, calculate the NPV and IRR?

Maurice Stokes was one of the best classmates of Roy Russell while he studied his MBA in the USA. Maurice grew up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s GDP per capita ranked 187 out of 191 countries due to adverse geopolitics and civil wars in the past. Maurice is talented and hard working. He went through his bachelor degree in Ethiopia and luckily won a scholarship to study an MBA in the USA. Right after he got his MBA degree, Maurice joined AB&T, the world’s biggest mobile phone service provider, as a management trainee. After 5 years’ working in the USA, Maurice was assigned to work as the Vice President in Addis Ababa, where AB&T’s African headquarter is located, to oversee all African operations.

After his MBA graduation, Roy Russell joined his father’s family business– a medium size mobile phone service provider in Hong Kong. Three years later, AB&T acquired Roy’s family business and retained all existing staff. Roy then became an employee of AB&T and he was happy to work for a multinational company with good reputation. After 3 years’ working as financial controller in AB&T’s Singapore office, Roy was offered an opportunity for promotion to work as chief financial officer (CFO) in its African headquarter in Addis Ababa. Eager to get more international exposure, Roy said yes to this offer. This is how Roy came to a reunion with Maurice.

AB&T provides its senior employees in Addis Ababa with a monthly housing allowance of up to $2,500. Compared with the US standard, most of the housing in Addis Ababa is of low quality, and in many regions the law and order are bad. By giving a generous allowance, AB&T aims to ensure that its senior employees live in areas that are safe, convenient and comfortable to ensure that senior executives can have good rest, that they live in a district that is appropriate to the company’s reputation. For housing allowance claim, senior executives need to hand in their monthly receipts for reimbursement. Every month Maurice submits a bill of $2,500 from his landlord to the finance office for re-imbursement. Roy suggested paying a visit Maurice’s house for a few times. However, every time Maurice rejected this suggestion, claiming that he had never entertained any coworkers at home so that his family members would not be distributed. Roy considered this understandable and so did not insist.

After working for six months in Addis Ababa, Roy had a business dinner with a supplier. The supplier mentioned that Maurice was a neighbor in a district called Winter Town. Winter Town is a district quite far from AT&T’s African office and is well-known for its high crime rate in Addis Ababa. Roy was surprised to hear that, as Maurice told him that he lived in Spring Town, a district that many foreign ambassadors lived and a lot more expensive than Winter Town. Through some connection, Roy verified that what the supplier said was true.

Roy decided to confront Maurice about the housing allowance issue. Maurice at first denied but later admitted that his apartment was in Winter Town and the rent was less than $2,500. He defended his action by saying that “Every AB&T senior executive gets $2,500 a month. If I live in an economically way, why should I be penalized? I just receive the same as others”. As a reply, Roy stressed that “It is AB&T objective to let senior employees to live in a safe place and have good rest for the challenging duties during office hours. Besides, the districts that the company’s senior executives live in represent the image of the company. Moreover, the company’s housing allowance policy is reimbursement on an actual basis, i.e. the amount of monthly claim should be the same as the rental value of the apartment and not to allow staff to make a profit. As the regional CFO, I have to maintain my professional standing”. When Roy challenged Maurice for using falsified rental receipts for disbursement claims, Maurice admitted but replied that this is a common and well-accepted practice in Ethiopia.

Later in the discussion, Maurice tried to convince Roy regarding his housing allowance claim practice. Maurice explained his situation that “You may not understand my situation. I have to save every dollar to pay school fees for my ten nephews and nieces. I got my family members’ great support to finish my education. I owe it to my brothers and sisters to give their children the same chance to study as I did. My parents can never understand why I live in a big apartment instead of helping their grandchildren. I am just doing what I should do. The company has no extra expense to reimburse me $2,500 housing allowance per the monthly receipt I submit. As my old classmate and my best friend, please pretend you know nothing and pay me $2,500 housing allowance as before. As a person grown up in Ethiopia, I know all business practice here and have good connection in this country. I know many senior executives in the government tax department and that will be helpful to your work here. I will fully support you to do an excellent job to save some tax for the benefit of our company. You will be compliment by your boss for paying a lower tax than other companies here”.

Roy does not want to lose his friendship with Maurice and he believes it will make his working life easier if he can make use of Maurice’s connection in Africa. Roy is not sure what should be his next step.

Required

1. Identify the ethical issue, if any, involved in this case?   

2. Who are the stakeholders in this situation? How are they affected?  

3. What are Roy’s alternatives?

4. What course of action will you suggest Roy Russell to take and justify your suggestion?

With the growing popularity of casual surf print clothing, two recent MBA graduates decided to broaden this casual surf concept to encompass a “surf lifestyle for the home.” With limited capital, they decided to focus on surf print table and floor lamps to accent people’s homes. They projected unit sales of these lamps to be 10,600 in the first year, with growth of 8 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $57,000 in net working capital to start. Total fixed costs are $143,000 per year, variable production costs are $17 per unit, and the units are priced at $60 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $605,000. The equipment will be depreciated using the straight-line method over a 5-year life and is not expected to have a salvage value. The tax rate is 21 percent and the required rate of return is 17 percent. What is the NPV of this project? (Do not round intermediate calculations and round your answer to 2 decimal places, e.g., 32.16.)

A friend of yours is working toward a master of business administration (MBA) degree. He e-mails you the following note:

"Hey! How are things going? I need your help! We are studying income taxes in my Financial Accounting class and just finished talking about deferred taxes. I think the professor said something about adjusting the value of deferred taxes when it's an asset but not when it's a liability. When I looked at my homework problem, the balance sheet shows both a deferred tax asset and a deferred tax liability. Shouldn't it be one or the other? And why would one need the value adjusted for one, but not the other? Help!"

You want to help your friend, but you remember having some questions yourself:

• Analyze why FASB requires companies to report both deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities instead of netting them.
• Examine why the FASB requires valuation adjustments for deferred tax assets but does not for deferred tax liabilities.

Consider the following marginal benefit (demand) curves of two individuals for a certain good: MB_A(q) = 100 – q and MB_B(q) = 300 – q.

Consider the Marginal Private Costs of providing Fireworks in The Park, MC(q) = 50 + q.

1. Find q^M, the amount of Fireworks in the Park provided by the Market, when individuals provide the good with no co-operation and act only in their self-interest.
2. What is the efficient level of Fireworks in the Park, q*?
3. Person B brings a friend to the park (person C), with the same MB curve as theirs (MB_C = 300 – q). Find the new quantity provided by the Market (q^M) and the new efficient level of Fireworks in the Park (q*).
4. Despite being visually appealing, fireworks are known to cause negative externalities such as noise pollution and increased deaths by heart attacks in dogs. We estimated the marginal external costs of Fireworks in the Park, MEC (q) = 70 + q. What is the new efficient level of Fireworks in the Park? Consider the MSB curve found in part f, which includes person C. How does this new efficient allocation compare to the Market equilibrium, q^M, found in f?