P4 Answer Bank PDF
P4 Answer Bank PDF
P4 Answer Bank PDF
Management
Answer Bank
1
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2
Professional Level – Options Module
Paper P4
Advanced Financial
Management
September/December 2016 – Sample Questions
This question paper must not be removed from the examination hall.
The Association of
Chartered Certified
Accountants
3
Section A – This ONE question is compulsory and MUST be attempted
1 Morada Co is involved in offering bespoke travel services and maintenance services. In addition to owning a few
hotels, it has built strong relationships with companies in the hospitality industry all over the world. It has a good
reputation of offering unique, high quality holiday packages at reasonable costs for its clients. The strong relationships
have also enabled it to offer repair and maintenance services to a number of hotel chains and cruise ship companies.
Following a long discussion at a meeting of the board of directors (BoD) about the future strategic direction which
Morada Co should follow, three directors continued to discuss one particular issue over dinner. In the meeting, the
BoD had expressed concern that Morada Co was exposed to excessive risk and therefore its cost of capital was too
high. The BoD feared that several good projects had been rejected over the previous two years, because they did not
meet Morada Co’s high cost of capital threshold. Each director put forward a proposal, which they then discussed in
turn. At the conclusion of the dinner, the directors decided to ask for a written report on the proposals put forward by
the first director and the second director, before taking all three proposals to the BoD for further discussion.
First director’s proposal
The first director is of the opinion that Morada Co should reduce its debt in order to mitigate its risk and therefore
reduce its cost of capital. He proposes that the company should sell its repair and maintenance services business unit
and focus just on offering bespoke travel services and hotel accommodation. In the sale, the book value of non-current
assets will reduce by 30% and the book value of current liabilities will reduce by 10%. It is thought that the
non-current assets can be sold for an after-tax profit of 15%.
The first director suggests that the funds arising from the sale of the repair and maintenance services business unit
and cash resources should be used to pay off 80% of the long-term debt. It is estimated that as a result of this,
Morada Co’s credit rating will improve from Baa2 to A2.
Second director’s proposal
The second director is of the opinion that risk diversification is the best way to reduce Morada Co’s risk and therefore
reduce its cost of capital. He proposes that the company raise additional funds using debt finance and then create a
new strategic business unit. This business unit will focus on construction of new commercial properties.
The second director suggests that $70 million should be borrowed and used to invest in purchasing non-current assets
for the construction business unit. The new debt will be issued in the form of four-year redeemable bonds paying an
annual coupon of 6·2%. It is estimated that if this amount of debt is raised, then Morada Co’s credit rating will worsen
to Ca3 from Baa2. Current liabilities are estimated to increase to $28 million.
Third director’s proposal
The third director is of the opinion that Morada Co does not need to undertake the proposals suggested by the first
director and the second director just to reduce the company’s risk profile. She feels that the above proposals require
a fundamental change in corporate strategy and should be considered in terms of more than just tools to manage risk.
Instead, she proposes that a risk management system should be set up to appraise Morada Co’s current risk profile,
considering each type of business risk and financial risk within the company, and taking appropriate action to manage
the risk where it is deemed necessary.
Morada Co, extracts from the forecast financial position for the coming year
$000
Non-current assets 280,000
Current assets 48,000
––––––––
Total assets 328,000
––––––––
Equity and liabilities
Share capital (40c/share) 50,000
Retained earnings 137,000
––––––––
Total equity 187,000
––––––––
Non-current liabilities (6·2% redeemable bonds) 120,000
Current liabilities 21,000
––––––––
Total liabilities 141,000
––––––––
Total liabilities and equity capital 328,000
––––––––
2
4
Other financial information
Morada Co’s forecast after-tax earnings for the coming year are expected to be $28 million. It is estimated that the
company will make a 9% return after-tax on any new investment in non-current assets, and will suffer a 9% decrease
in after-tax earnings on any reduction in investment in non-current assets.
Morada Co’s current share price is $2·88 per share. According to the company’s finance division, it is very difficult
to predict how the share price will react to either the proposal made by the first director or the proposal made by the
second director. Therefore it has been assumed that the share price will not change following either proposal.
The finance division has further assumed that the proportion of the book value of non-current assets invested in each
business unit gives a fair representation of the size of each business unit within Morada Co.
Morada Co’s equity beta is estimated at 1·2, while the asset beta of the repairs and maintenance services business
unit is estimated to be 0·65. The relevant equity beta for the new, larger company including the construction unit
relevant to the second director’s proposals has been estimated as 1·21.
The bonds are redeemable in four years’ time at face value. For the purposes of estimating the cost of capital, it can
be assumed that debt beta is zero. However, the four-year credit spread over the risk free rate of return is 60 basis
points for A2 rated bonds, 90 basis points for Baa2 rated bonds and 240 basis points for Ca3 rated bonds.
A tax rate of 20% is applicable to all companies. The current risk free rate of return is estimated to be 3·8% and the
market risk premium is estimated to be 7%.
Required:
(a) Explain how business risk and financial risk are related; and how risk mitigation and risk diversification can
form part of a company’s risk management strategy. (6 marks)
(c) Discuss the possible reasons for the third director’s proposal that a risk management system should consider
each risk, before taking appropriate action. (7 marks)
(50 marks)
3 [P.T.O.
5
Section B – TWO questions ONLY to be attempted
4
6
Required:
(a) Evaluate the financial acceptability of the investment in the Milland and, calculate and comment on the
investment’s duration. (15 marks)
(b) Calculate the % change in the selling price required for the investment to have a zero net present value, and
discuss the significance of your results. (5 marks)
(c) Discuss the non-executive director’s understanding of net present value and explain the importance of other
measures in providing data about an investment’s short and long-term performance. (5 marks)
(25 marks)
5 [P.T.O.
7
3 Chithurst Co gained a stock exchange listing five years ago. At the time of the listing, members of the family who
founded the company owned 75% of the shares, but now they only hold just over 50%. The number of shares in
issue has remained unchanged since Chithurst Co was listed. Chithurst Co’s directors have continued the policy of
paying a constant dividend per share each year which the company had before it was listed. However, investors who
are not family members have become increasingly critical of this policy, saying that there is no clear rationale for it.
They would prefer to see steady dividend growth, reflecting the increase in profitability of Chithurst Co since its listing.
The finance director of Chithurst Co has provided its board with details of Chithurst Co’s dividends and investment
expenditure, compared with two other similar-sized companies in the same sector, Eartham Co and Iping Co. Each
company has a 31 December year end.
Chithurst Co Eartham Co Iping Co
Profit for Dividend New Profit for Dividend New Profit for Dividend New
year after paid investment year after paid investment year after paid investment
interest expenditure interest expenditure interest expenditure
and tax and tax and tax
$m $m $m $m $m $m $m $m $m
2012 77 33 18 95 38 30 75 35 37
2013 80 33 29 (10) 15 15 88 17 64
2014 94 33 23 110 44 42 118 39 75
2015 97 33 21 120 48 29 132 42 84
Other financial information relating to the three companies is as follows:
Chithurst Co Eartham Co Iping Co
Cost of equity 11% 14% 12%
Market capitalisation $m 608 1,042 1,164
Increase in share price in last 12 months 1% 5% 10%
Chithurst Co’s finance director has estimated the costs of equity for all three companies.
None of the three companies has taken out significant new debt finance since 2011.
Required:
(a) Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the dividend policies which the three companies appear to have
adopted. Provide relevant calculations to support your discussion.
Note: Up to 5 marks are available for the calculations. (15 marks)
(b) Discuss how the market capitalisation of the three companies compares with your valuations calculated using
the dividend valuation model. Use the data provided to calculate valuations based on growth rates for the
most recent year and for the last three years.
Note: Up to 5 marks are available for the calculations. (10 marks)
(25 marks)
6
8
4 Pault Co is currently undertaking a major programme of product development. Pault Co has made a significant
investment in plant and machinery for this programme. Over the next couple of years, Pault Co has also budgeted for
significant development and launch costs for a number of new products, although its finance director believes there
is some uncertainty with these budgeted figures, as they will depend upon competitor activity amongst other matters.
Pault Co issued floating rate loan notes, with a face value of $400 million, to fund the investment in plant and
machinery. The loan notes are redeemable in ten years’ time. The interest on the loan notes is payable annually and
is based on the spot yield curve, plus 50 basis points.
Pault Co’s finance director has recently completed a review of the company’s overall financing strategy. His review has
highlighted expectations that interest rates will increase over the next few years, although the predictions of financial
experts in the media differ significantly.
The finance director is concerned about the exposure Pault Co has to increases in interest rates through the loan notes.
He has therefore discussed with Millbridge Bank the possibility of taking out a four-year interest rate swap. The
proposed terms are that Pault Co would pay Millbridge Bank interest based on an equivalent fixed annual rate of
4·847%. In return, Pault Co would receive from Millbridge Bank a variable amount based on the forward rates
calculated from the annual spot yield curve rate at the time of payment minus 20 basis points. Payments and receipts
would be made annually, with the first one in a year’s time. Millbridge Bank would charge an annual fee of 25 basis
points if Pault Co enters the swap.
The current annual spot yield curve rates are as follows:
Year One Two Three Four
Rate 3·70% 4·25% 4·70% 5·10%
A number of concerns were raised at the recent board meeting when the swap arrangement was discussed.
– Pault Co’s chairman wondered what the value of the swap arrangement to Pault Co was, and whether the value
would change over time.
– One of Pault Co’s non-executive directors objected to the arrangement, saying that in his opinion the interest rate
which Pault Co would pay and the bank charges were too high. Pault Co ought to stick with its floating rate
commitment. Investors would be critical if, at the end of four years, Pault Co had paid higher costs under the
swap than it would have done had it left the loan unhedged.
Required:
(a) (i) Using the current annual spot yield curve rates as the basis for estimating forward rates, calculate the
amounts Pault Co expects to pay or receive each year under the swap (excluding the fee of 25 basis
points). (6 marks)
(ii) Calculate Pault Co’s interest payment liability for Year 1 if the yield curve rate is 4·5% or 2·9%, and
comment on your results. (6 marks)
(b) Advise the chairman on the current value of the swap to Pault Co and the factors which would change the
value of the swap. (4 marks)
(c) Discuss the disadvantages and advantages to Pault Co of not undertaking a swap and being liable to pay
interest at floating rates. (9 marks)
(25 marks)
7 [P.T.O.
9
Formulae
Vd
k e = kie + (1 – T)(kie – k d )
Ve
E(ri ) = R f + βi (E(rm ) – Rf )
Ve V (1 – T)
d
βa = βe + βd
(Ve + Vd (1 – T)) (Ve + Vd (1 – T))
Do (1 + g)
Po =
(re – g)
V V
e d
WACC = k + k (1 – T)
Ve + Vd e Ve + Vd d
(1+hc ) (1+ic )
S1 = S0 x F0 = S0 x
(1+hb ) (1+ib )
8
10
Modified Internal Rate of Return
1
PV n
MIRR = R 1 + re – 1
PVI
( )
Where:
ln(Pa / Pe ) + (r+0.5s2 )t
d1 =
s t
d2 = d1 – s t
p = c – Pa + Pe e –rt
9 [P.T.O.
11
Present Value Table
1 0·990 0·980 0·971 0·962 0·952 0·943 0·935 0·926 0·917 0·909 1
2 0·980 0·961 0·943 0·925 0·907 0·890 0·873 0·857 0·842 0·826 2
3 0·971 0·942 0·915 0·889 0·864 0·840 0·816 0·794 0·772 0·751 3
4 0·961 0·924 0·888 0·855 0·823 0·792 0·763 0·735 0·708 0·683 4
5 0·951 0·906 0·863 0·822 0·784 0·747 0·713 0·681 0·650 0·621 5
6 0·942 0·888 0·837 0·790 0·746 0·705 0·666 0·630 0·596 0·564 6
7 0·933 0·871 0·813 0·760 0·711 0·665 0·623 0·583 0·547 0·513 7
8 0·923 0·853 0·789 0·731 0·677 0·627 0·582 0·540 0·502 0·467 8
9 0·914 0·837 0·766 0·703 0·645 0·592 0·544 0·500 0·460 0·424 9
10 0·905 0·820 0·744 0·676 0·614 0·558 0·508 0·463 0·422 0·386 10
11 0·896 0·804 0·722 0·650 0·585 0·527 0·475 0·429 0·388 0·350 11
12 0·887 0·788 0·701 0·625 0·557 0·497 0·444 0·397 0·356 0·319 12
13 0·879 0·773 0·681 0·601 0·530 0·469 0·415 0·368 0·326 0·290 13
14 0·870 0·758 0·661 0·577 0·505 0·442 0·388 0·340 0·299 0·263 14
15 0·861 0·743 0·642 0·555 0·481 0·417 0·362 0·315 0·275 0·239 15
(n) 11% 12% 13% 14% 15% 16% 17% 18% 19% 20%
1 0·901 0·893 0·885 0·877 0·870 0·862 0·855 0·847 0·840 0·833 1
2 0·812 0·797 0·783 0·769 0·756 0·743 0·731 0·718 0·706 0·694 2
3 0·731 0·712 0·693 0·675 0·658 0·641 0·624 0·609 0·593 0·579 3
4 0·659 0·636 0·613 0·592 0·572 0·552 0·534 0·516 0·499 0·482 4
5 0·593 0·567 0·543 0·519 0·497 0·476 0·456 0·437 0·419 0·402 5
6 0·535 0·507 0·480 0·456 0·432 0·410 0·390 0·370 0·352 0·335 6
7 0·482 0·452 0·425 0·400 0·376 0·354 0·333 0·314 0·296 0·279 7
8 0·434 0·404 0·376 0·351 0·327 0·305 0·285 0·266 0·249 0·233 8
9 0·391 0·361 0·333 0·308 0·284 0·263 0·243 0·225 0·209 0·194 9
10 0·352 0·322 0·295 0·270 0·247 0·227 0·208 0·191 0·176 0·162 10
11 0·317 0·287 0·261 0·237 0·215 0·195 0·178 0·162 0·148 0·135 11
12 0·286 0·257 0·231 0·208 0·187 0·168 0·152 0·137 0·124 0·112 12
13 0·258 0·229 0·204 0·182 0·163 0·145 0·130 0·116 0·104 0·093 13
14 0·232 0·205 0·181 0·160 0·141 0·125 0·111 0·099 0·088 0·078 14
15 0·209 0·183 0·160 0·140 0·123 0·108 0·095 0·084 0·074 0·065 15
10
12
Annuity Table
– (1 + r)–n
Present value of an annuity of 1 i.e. 1————––
r
1 0·990 0·980 0·971 0·962 0·952 0·943 0·935 0·926 0·917 0·909 1
2 1·970 1·942 1·913 1·886 1·859 1·833 1·808 1·783 1·759 1·736 2
3 2·941 2·884 2·829 2·775 2·723 2·673 2·624 2·577 2·531 2·487 3
4 3·902 3·808 3·717 3·630 3·546 3·465 3·387 3·312 3·240 3·170 4
5 4·853 4·713 4·580 4·452 4·329 4·212 4·100 3·993 3·890 3·791 5
6 5·795 5·601 5·417 5·242 5·076 4·917 4·767 4·623 4·486 4·355 6
7 6·728 6·472 6·230 6·002 5·786 5·582 5·389 5·206 5·033 4·868 7
8 7·652 7·325 7·020 6·733 6·463 6·210 5·971 5·747 5·535 5·335 8
9 8·566 8·162 7·786 7·435 7·108 6·802 6·515 6·247 5·995 5·759 9
10 9·471 8·983 8·530 8·111 7·722 7·360 7·024 6·710 6·418 6·145 10
11 10·368 9·787 9·253 8·760 8·306 7·887 7·499 7·139 6·805 6·495 11
12 11·255 10·575 9·954 9·385 8·863 8·384 7·943 7·536 7·161 6·814 12
13 12·134 11·348 10·635 9·986 9·394 8·853 8·358 7·904 7·487 7·103 13
14 13·004 12·106 11·296 10·563 9·899 9·295 8·745 8·244 7·786 7·367 14
15 13·865 12·849 11·938 11·118 10·380 9·712 9·108 8·559 8·061 7·606 15
(n) 11% 12% 13% 14% 15% 16% 17% 18% 19% 20%
1 0·901 0·893 0·885 0·877 0·870 0·862 0·855 0·847 0·840 0·833 1
2 1·713 1·690 1·668 1·647 1·626 1·605 1·585 1·566 1·547 1·528 2
3 2·444 2·402 2·361 2·322 2·283 2·246 2·210 2·174 2·140 2·106 3
4 3·102 3·037 2·974 2·914 2·855 2·798 2·743 2·690 2·639 2·589 4
5 3·696 3·605 3·517 3·433 3·352 3·274 3·199 3·127 3·058 2·991 5
6 4·231 4·111 3·998 3·889 3·784 3·685 3·589 3·498 3·410 3·326 6
7 4·712 4·564 4·423 4·288 4·160 4·039 3·922 3·812 3·706 3·605 7
8 5·146 4·968 4·799 4·639 4·487 4·344 4·207 4·078 3·954 3·837 8
9 5·537 5·328 5·132 4·946 4·772 4·607 4·451 4·303 4·163 4·031 9
10 5·889 5·650 5·426 5·216 5·019 4·833 4·659 4·494 4·339 4·192 10
11 6·207 5·938 5·687 5·453 5·234 5·029 4·836 4·656 4·486 4·327 11
12 6·492 6·194 5·918 5·660 5·421 5·197 4·988 4·793 4·611 4·439 12
13 6·750 6·424 6·122 5·842 5·583 5·342 5·118 4·910 4·715 4·533 13
14 6·982 6·628 6·302 6·002 5·724 5·468 5·229 5·008 4·802 4·611 14
15 7·191 6·811 6·462 6·142 5·847 5·575 5·324 5·092 4·876 4·675 15
11 [P.T.O.
13
Standard normal distribution table
0·00 0·01 0·02 0·03 0·04 0·05 0·06 0·07 0·08 0·09
0·0 0·0000 0·0040 0·0080 0·0120 0·0160 0·0199 0·0239 0·0279 0·0319 0·0359
0·1 0·0398 0·0438 0·0478 0·0517 0·0557 0·0596 0·0636 0·0675 0·0714 0·0753
0·2 0·0793 0·0832 0·0871 0·0910 0·0948 0·0987 0·1026 0·1064 0·1103 0·1141
0·3 0·1179 0·1217 0·1255 0·1293 0·1331 0·1368 0·1406 0·1443 0·1480 0·1517
0·4 0·1554 0·1591 0·1628 0·1664 0·1700 0·1736 0·1772 0·1808 0·1844 0·1879
0·5 0·1915 0·1950 0·1985 0·2019 0·2054 0·2088 0·2123 0·2157 0·2190 0·2224
0·6 0·2257 0·2291 0·2324 0·2357 0·2389 0·2422 0·2454 0·2486 0·2517 0·2549
0·7 0·2580 0·2611 0·2642 0·2673 0·2704 0·2734 0·2764 0·2794 0·2823 0·2852
0·8 0·2881 0·2910 0·2939 0·2967 0·2995 0·3023 0·3051 0·3078 0·3106 0·3133
0·9 0·3159 0·3186 0·3212 0·3238 0·3264 0·3289 0·3315 0·3340 0·3365 0·3389
1·0 0·3413 0·3438 0·3461 0·3485 0·3508 0·3531 0·3554 0·3577 0·3599 0·3621
1·1 0·3643 0·3665 0·3686 0·3708 0·3729 0·3749 0·3770 0·3790 0·3810 0·3830
1·2 0·3849 0·3869 0·3888 0·3907 0·3925 0·3944 0·3962 0·3980 0·3997 0·4015
1·3 0·4032 0·4049 0·4066 0·4082 0·4099 0·4115 0·4131 0·4147 0·4162 0·4177
1·4 0·4192 0·4207 0·4222 0·4236 0·4251 0·4265 0·4279 0·4292 0·4306 0·4319
1·5 0·4332 0·4345 0·4357 0·4370 0·4382 0·4394 0·4406 0·4418 0·4429 0·4441
1·6 0·4452 0·4463 0·4474 0·4484 0·4495 0·4505 0·4515 0·4525 0·4535 0·4545
1·7 0·4554 0·4564 0·4573 0·4582 0·4591 0·4599 0·4608 0·4616 0·4625 0·4633
1·8 0·4641 0·4649 0·4656 0·4664 0·4671 0·4678 0·4686 0·4693 0·4699 0·4706
1·9 0·4713 0·4719 0·4726 0·4732 0·4738 0·4744 0·4750 0·4756 0·4761 0·4767
2·0 0·4772 0·4778 0·4783 0·4788 0·4793 0·4798 0·4803 0·4808 0·4812 0·4817
2·1 0·4821 0·4826 0·4830 0·4834 0·4838 0·4842 0·4846 0·4850 0·4854 0·4857
2·2 0·4861 0·4864 0·4868 0·4871 0·4875 0·4878 0·4881 0·4884 0·4887 0·4890
2·3 0·4893 0·4896 0·4898 0·4901 0·4904 0·4906 0·4909 0·4911 0·4913 0·4916
2·4 0·4918 0·4920 0·4922 0·4925 0·4927 0·4929 0·4931 0·4932 0·4934 0·4936
2·5 0·4938 0·4940 0·4941 0·4943 0·4945 0·4946 0·4948 0·4949 0·4951 0·4952
2·6 0·4953 0·4955 0·4956 0·4957 0·4959 0·4960 0·4961 0·4962 0·4963 0·4964
2·7 0·4965 0·4966 0·4967 0·4968 0·4969 0·4970 0·4971 0·4972 0·4973 0·4974
2·8 0·4974 0·4975 0·4976 0·4977 0·4977 0·4978 0·4979 0·4979 0·4980 0·4981
2·9 0·4981 0·4982 0·4982 0·4983 0·4984 0·4984 0·4985 0·4985 0·4986 0·4986
3·0 0·4987 0·4987 0·4987 0·4988 0·4988 0·4989 0·4989 0·4989 0·4990 0·4990
This table can be used to calculate N(d), the cumulative normal distribution functions needed for the Black-Scholes model
of option pricing. If di > 0, add 0·5 to the relevant number above. If di < 0, subtract the relevant number above from 0·5.
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