Question 1: Renfree Mines, Inc., owns the mining rights to a large tract of land in a mountainous are. The tract contains a mineral deposit that the company believes might be commercially attractive to mine and sell. An engineering and cost analysis has been made, and it is expected that the following cash flows would be associated with operating a mine in the area:
Cost of equipment required $850,000
Net annual cash receipts $230,000*
Working Capital required $100,000
Cost of road repairs in three years 60,000
Salvage value of equipment in five years $200,000
It is estimated that the mineral deposit would be exhausted after five years of mining. At that point, the working capital would be released for reinvestment elsewhere. The company’s required rate of return is 14%.
Required: Determine the net present value of the proposed mining project. Should the project be accepted? Explain.
Question 2: Lake Union Yacht Brokers is investigating five different investment opportunities. Information on the five projects under study is given on the next page:
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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Investment required
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$(480,000)
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$(360,000)
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$(270,000)
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$(450,000)
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$(400,000)
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Present value of cash inflows at a 10% discount rate
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567,270
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433,400
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336,140
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522,970
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379,760
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Net present value
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$87,270
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$73,400
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$66,140
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$72,970
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$(20,240)
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Life of the project
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6 years
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12 years
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6 years
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3 years
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5 years
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Since the company’s required rate of return is 10%, a 10% discount rate has been used in the present value computations above. Limited funds are available for investment, so the company can’t accept all of the available projects.
Required:
1. Compute the profitability index for each investment project.
2. Rank the five projects according to preference, in terms of:
a. net present value
b. profitability index
3. Which ranking do you prefer? Why?
Question 3: Otthar’s Amusement Center contains a number of electronic games as well as a miniature gold course and various rides located outside the building. Otthar Luvinson, the owner, would like to construct a water slide on one portion of his property. Otthar has gathered the following information about the slide:
a. Water slide equipment could be purchased and installed at a cost of $500,000. The slide would be usable for 10 years, after which it would have no salvage value.
b. Otthar would use straight-line depreciation on the slide equipment.
c. To make room for the water slide, several rides would be dismantled and sold. These rides are fully depreciated, but they could be sold for $40,000 to an amusement park in a nearby city.
d. Otthar has concluded that water slides would increase ticket sales by $320,000 per year.
e. Based on experience at other water slides, Otthar estimates that incremental operating expenses each year for the slide would be: salaries, $115,000; insurance, $28,200; utilities, $12,000; and maintenance, $32,000.
Required:
1. Prepare an income statement showing the expected net operating income each year from the water slide.
2. Compute the simple rate of return expected from the water slide. Based on this computation, would the water slide be constructed if Otthar requires a simple rate of return of at least 15% on all investments?
3. Compute the payback period for the water slide. If Otthar requires a payback period of 5 years or less, would the water slide be constructed?
Question 4: Anita Vasquez received $160,000 from her mother’s estate. She placed the funds into the hands of a broker, who purchased the following securities on Anita’s behalf:
a. Common stock was purchased at a cost of $80,000. The stock paid no dividend, but it was sold for $180,000 at the end of 4 years.
b. Preferred stock was purchased at its par value of $30,000.The stock paid a 6% dividend (based on par value) each year for years. At the end of 4 years, the stock was sold for $24,000.
c. Bonds were purchased at a cost of $50,000. The bonds paid $3,000 in interest every six months. After 4 years, the bonds were sold for $58,500. (Note: in discounting a cash flow that occurs semi-annually, the procedure is to halve the discount rate and double the number of periods. Use the same procedure in discounting the proceeds from the sale.)
The securities were all sold at the end of four years so that Anita would have funds available to start a new business venture. The broker stated that the investments had earned more than 20% return, and he gave Anita the following computation to support his statement:
Common stock:
Gain on sale ($180,000-$80,000) $100,000
Preferred stock:
Dividends paid (6% * $30,000 * 4 years) 7,200
Loss on sale ($24,000-$30,000) (6,000)
Bonds:
Interest paid ($3,000 * 8 periods) 24,000
Gain on sale ($58,500 - $50,000) 8,500
Net gain on all investments $133,700
($133,700 divided by 4 years)/$160,000 = 20.9%
Required:
1. Using a 20% discount rate, compute the net present value of each of the three investments. On which investment (s) did Anita earn a 20% rate of return? (Round computations to the nearest whole dollar.)
2. Considering all three investments together, did Anita earn a 20% rate of return? Explain.
3. Anita wants to use the $262,500 proceeds ($180,000 + $24,000 +$58,500 = $262,500) from sale of the securities to open a fast-food franchise under a 10-year contract. What net annual cash inflow must the store generate for Anita to earn a 16% return over the 10-year period? Assume that Anita will not receive back her original investment at the end of the contract. (Round computations to the nearest whole dollar.)
Question 5: Analytical Thinking
Wyndham Stores operates a regional chain of upscale department stores. The company is going to open another store soon in a prosperous and growing suburban area. In discussing how the company can acquire the desired building and other facilities needed to open the new store, Harry Wilson, the company’s marketing vice president, stated, “I know most of our competitors are starting to lease facilities, rather than buy, but, I just can’t see the economics of it. Our development people tell me that we can buy the building site, put a building on it, and get all the store fixtures we need for $14 million. They also say that property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and repairs would run $200,000 a year. When you figure that we plan to keep a site for 20 years, that’s a total cost of $18 million. But then when you realize that the building and property will be worth at least $5 million in 20 years, that’s a net cost to us of only $13 million. Leasing costs a lot more than that.” “I’m not so sure,” replied Erin Reilly, the company’s executive vice president. “Guardian Insurance Company is willing to purchase the building site, construct a building and install fixtures to our specifications, and then lease the facility to us for 20 years for an annual lease payment of only $1 million.
“That’s just my point,” said Henry. “At 1 million a year, it would cost us $20 million over the 20 years instead of just $13 million. And what would we have left at the end? Nothing! The building would belong to the insurance company! I’ll bet they would even want the first lease payment in advance.” “That’s right,” replied Erin. “We would have to make the first payment immediately and then one payment at the beginning of each of the following 19 years. However, you’re overlooking a few things. For one thing, we would have to tie up a lot of our funds for 20 years under the purchase alternative. We would have to put $6 million down immediately if we buy the property, and then we would have to pay the other $8 million off over four years at $2 million a year.” “But that cost is nothing compared to $20 million for leasing,” said Harry. “Also, if we lease, I understand we would have to put up a $400,000 security deposit that we wouldn’t get back until the end. And besides that, we would still have to pay all repairs and maintenance costs just like we owned the property. No wonder those insurance companies are so rich if they can swing deals like this.” “Well, I’ll admit that I don’t have all the figures sorted out yet,” replied Erin. “But I do have the operating cost breakdown for the building, which includes $90,000 annually for property taxes, $60,000 for insurance, and $50,000 for repairs and maintenance. If we lease, Guardian will handle its own insurance costs and will pay the property taxes, but we’ll have to pay for the repairs and maintenance. I need to put all this together and see if leasing makes any sense with our 12% before-tax required rate of return. The president wants a presentation and recommendation in the executive committee meeting tomorrow.”
Required to do:
1. Using the net present value approach, determine whether Wyndham Stores should lease or buy the new store. Assume that you will be making your presentation before the company’s executive committee and remember that the president detests sloppy, disorganized reports.
2. What reply will you make in the meeting if Harry Wilson brings up the issue of the building’s future sales value?