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 10,800 in the first year, with growth of 7 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $61,000 in net working capital to start. Total fixed costs are $149,000 per year, variable production costs are $19 per unit, and the units are priced at $62 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $615,000. 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 23 percent and the required rate of return is 19 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.)

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 10,700 in the first year, with growth of 6 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $59,000 in net working capital to start. Total fixed costs are $146,000 per year, variable production costs are $18 per unit, and the units are priced at $61 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $610,000. 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 22 percent and the required rate of return is 18 percent. What is the NPV of this project?

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 10,800 in the first year, with growth of 7 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $61,000 in net working capital to start. Total fixed costs are $149,000 per year, variable production costs are $19 per unit, and the units are priced at $62 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $615,000. 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 23 percent and the required rate of return is 19 percent. What is the NPV of this project?

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 8,000 in the first year, with growth of 8 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $45,000 in net working capital to start. The net working capital will be recovered at the end of the project. Total fixed costs are $105,000 per year, variable production costs are $10 per unit, and the units are priced at $38 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $185,000. The equipment will be depreciated using the straight-line method over a five-year life and is not expected to have a salvage value. The effective tax rate is 25 percent and the required rate of return is 24 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.)

1. Long-run real interest rates are expected to increase. An accountant and an MBA student (who just finished his course of Managerial Economics) were interviewed regarding the effect of this increase. Keeping all else constant, their answer would likely differ. How do you guess the interviewed will answer? Does the difference in response matters? If yes, why? If not, why not? (20 points)

2. Many cities have experienced a substantial decrease in the amount of garbage being collected after they changed from levying a flat tax on each household to a system where the homeowner is charged a fee for each bag or can picked up. Would this have been the result of a change in demand or a change in the quantity demanded? Would you recommend the flat fee or the fee per bag? Why? (20 points)

3. Define three types of elasticity of demand. Indicate how you would use information from recent research paid by your company that the own price elasticity of your product is -1.2 and not -0.8 as previously thought. (20 points)

4. A magazine, in an article dealing with management, wrote, “When he took over the furniture factory three years ago … [the manager] realized almost immediately that it was throwing away at least $100,000 a year worth of wood scrap. Within a few weeks, he set up a task force of managers and workers to deal with the problem. And within a few months, they reduced the amount of scrap to $7,000 worth [per year].” Was this necessarily an economically efficient move? Explain your answer. (20 points)

5. If all the assumptions of perfect competition hold, why would firms in such an industry have little incentive to carry out technological change or much research and development? What conditions would encourage research and development in any of the competitive industries? (20 points)

ASSIGNMENT 1
GBSw LTD
Chooye Haatimba (CH), a recent MBA graduate, was recruited as a Loan Officer of an indigenous bank. He had previous banking experience at the bank. His first assignment in this position was to review the account of GBSw, a long-standing client of the bank. GBSw has applied for an increase in their line of credit from K36,000 to K48,000 and also requested a 10-year extension on a K24,000 due on October 2020. CH’s started by doing some research into the background of the company. The company was formed in 1978 by Austin Simamba, in mid-40’s, who decided to own and operate his own business in the country. The company manufactured and sold high quality sporting wear. It remained small until 2000’s. Sales grew steadily, going from K51,600 in 2000, to K110,400 in 2005, and   K241,200 in 2010, and K308,400 in 2015. Of these sales 70% were on credit. Until 2010, GBSw had been a operated by the Simamba family. In 1994 Manns Simamba took over from his father in 1994. Under his management GBSw was growing tremendously in sales and profits. Upon his retirement in 2014, GBSw was sold two times within the next year – first to a group of Ndola businessmen and then to a group of Kitwe businessmen headed by Martin Haambotwe, thus ending the 36-year Simamba control of the business. The Simamaba family had been quite conservative in their management of GBSw, limiting the product line to high quality sporting wear sold only in sporting shops and specially approved men’s wear stores, but the Haambotwe syndicate took a more aggressive approach. They expanded the product line to include sporting shorts, sporting jackets, T-shirts and sweaters, drastically expanding the discount stores. This expansion in the product line was financed in large part through the issuance of K90,000 10% long term loan in October 2018. This debt was due in 15 years (2033), and carried a sinking fund provision of K6,000, with the first sinking fund payment being made one year after the debt was issued. Apart from the K24,000 bank loan due in June 2020, this was the first long term debt that GBSw had contracted, previously limiting the capital structure to ordinary shares. The Haambotwe group was hopeful that this aggressive expansion, relying on heavily on the good name of GBSw, would help to recapture the company’s growth recorded in the 2000’s. For the past four years the Bank has granted GBSw a line of credit for K36,000. The need for seasonal borrowing for GBSw is a result of its highly seasonal sales pattern and limited production facilities. Throughout the year GBSw is forced to keep production near full capacity, building large inventories that will be reduced from mid-July through December when 90% of the sales take place. Thus, for GBSw, short term borrowing generally reaches a peak in August and is completely repaid by the end of November. While they have had a line of credit of K36,000 for the past four years, the company’s high credit was only for K31,200 in August 2018. In preparing his report for the Bank, CH will be required to prepare a statement of cash flow for the past 2 years, to provide some insight into how GBSw has used its funds in the past. A complete ratio analysis of the firm, focusing on liquidity, debt, coverage, and profitability ratios, also will be necessary. In addition to the calculations of these ratios and an analysis of them, a tentative recommendation on both the line of credit and the loan extension is required by CH.
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The analysis will be based upon the financial data in Exhibits 1,2 and 3. EXHIBIT 1                                                                        GBSw Ltd              Statement of Income for years ending August 31, 2017 through 2019
2017 2018 2019                      K000 K000 K000 Net sales 247.2 290.4 308.4 Cost of goods sold 176.4 207.6 220.8 Gross profit   70.8   82.8   87.6 Other operating expenses (Admin, selling and general)   11.916   21.936 26.796 Depreciation      7.8     7.8     7.8    19.716 29.736   34.596 Profit before interest and taxes   51.084 53.064   53.004 Finance cost (Interest expense)     2.4     2.4     2.4 Profit before tax   48.684 50.664 50.604 Income tax    17.039 17.732 17.111 Net profit after tax   31.645 32.932 33.493 Dividends paid    19.800 22.050 22.050 Retained profit   11.845 10.882 11.443   
  
EXHIBIT 2                                                                       GBSw Ltd                        Statement of financial position as at August 31,2017 to 2019             2017            2018            2019 K’000 K’000 K’000 K’000 K’000 K’000 ASSETS       Non-current assets 274.80 324.00 414.00 Accumulated depreciation   75.60    79.20    82.80    199.20 244.80 331.20 Goodwill 144.00 144.00 144.00 Non-current assets 343.20 388.80 475.20 Current assets       Inventory (Note 1)    43.20   57.60    75.60 Trade receivables     16.80   21.60    18.00 Cash and bank   25.20   21.60    19.20 Total current assets   85.20 100.80 112.80 Total assets 428.40 489.60 588.00 Current liabilities       Line of credit 28.80 31.20 28.80 Trade payables    8.40 12.00 19.20 Accrued expenses   3.60    6.00    9.60 Total current liabilities 40.80 49.20   57.60
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Bank loan (due June 2020) 24.00 24.00 24.00 Long term debt - - 90.00    24.00 24.00 114.00 Total liabilities 64.80 73.20 171.60 Assets less liabilities 363.60 416.40 416.40 Equity       Ordinary share capital 192.00 204.00 204.00 Share premium 120.00 156.00 156.00 Revenue reserves    51.60    56.40    56.40 Equity 363.60 416.40 416.40       
Note 1 Inventory   2017 2018 2019 K’000 K’000 K’000 Raw materials and supplies    9.60 12.00   14.40 Work in progress 31.20 42.00   55.20 Finished goods   2.40   3.60     6.00 Total inventory 43.20 57.60   75.60
EXHIBIT 3 INDUSTRY AVERAGES FOR SELECTED RATIOS RATIO AVERAGE Gross profit margin 23.4% Net profit margin    9.64% Return on assets (Earning power) 7.96% Asset turnover 0.826 times Inventory turnover 3.877 times Average collection period 40.3 days Current ratio 1.943 Acid test ratio 0.969 Total debt to equity 0.636 Long term debt to total capitalisation 0.487 Interest coverage ratio 4.533 times
Required 1. Compute the financial ratios for GBSw for 2017 to 2019 2. Comment on the strengths and weaknesses revealed by this analysis 3. If a value for annual cash flow before interest and taxes was available, what other ratio might be useful? Is such a ratio meaningful? Why? 4. Assuming that a value for annual cash flow before interest and taxes is not available, how might the interest coverage be modified to examine coverage other fixed charges for GBSw? What does this analysis indicate? (Use 35%as the tax rate)
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5. Prepare a statement of cash flow for 2018 and 2019. What is the significance of such an analysis? 6. Prepare a proforma statement of income for GBSw for 2018 and 2019. What is the purpose of this analysis? 7. What should CH’s recommendation be? Justify your answer  

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 8,500 in the first year, with growth of 7 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $50,000 in net working capital to start. The net working capital will be recovered at the end of the project. Total fixed costs are $110,000 per year, variable production costs are $22 per unit, and the units are priced at $50 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $190,000. The equipment will be depreciated using the straight-line method over a five-year life and is not expected to have a salvage value. The effective tax rate is 25 percent and the required rate of return is 24 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.) I need this calculation in Excel to compare toward my calculation. I cannot get correct result due to some number is not adding up.

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 10,900 in the first year, with growth of 8 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $63,000 in net working capital to start. Total fixed costs are $152,000 per year, variable production costs are $20 per unit, and the units are priced at $63 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $620,000. 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 24 percent and the required rate of return is 16 percent.

What is the NPV of this project?

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 11,700 in the first year, with growth of 7 percent each year for the next five years. Production of these lamps will require $79,000 in net working capital to start. Total fixed costs are $176,000 per year, variable production costs are $18 per unit, and the units are priced at $64 each. The equipment needed to begin production will cost $660,000. 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 22 percent and the required rate of return is 16 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.)

NPV=