Amanda McKenna FI330- Case Studies Individual Case #1: Debt Policy 15 February 2017 Deluxe Corporation I. Summary Deluxe Corporation was the largest printer of paper checks in the United States in mid-2002. However, sales and earnings saw a slow decline as more and more people began using online payment methods. Rajat Singh was brought on board by Deluxe’s board of directions to help the firm re-strategize their financial plans, in turn, helping the firm fight off the subsequent weakening of the check printing services they offered. At Deluxe’s peak, their revenues grew at a compounded annual rate of 12% for about 20 years. By 2001, the company had three different business segments which helped it’s share price outperform the S&P Index, …show more content…
He had to consider the firm’s debt or bond rating, which was previously rated A+/A1. He had to address the minimum and maximum amount of debt the company could carry in order to remain at a rating above BB, which would keep costs low and the brand’s reputation positive in eyes of shareholders. Singh also wanted to remain flexible in regards to taking on as much debt as possible. He looked at Deluxe’s earnings before interest and taxes and assumed that the worst case would be an EBIT close $200 million, which would still guarantee investment-grade rated bonds. The last major factor that had to be taken into consideration was minimizing the cost of capital. Singh used Hudson Bancorp, where he was managing director, to estimate the cost debt and equity pre-taxes for each rating category in order to find the lowest rating, before falling to junk level, with the lowest cost of capital. Cost of debt was found by averaging the current yield to maturity of each bond rating, and the cost of equity was calculated by using the capital asset pricing …show more content…
Not only does this keep them at investment grade but it also provides them the lowest cost of capital in relation to WACC. This would also help relieve the pressure of the buyback program of their outstanding shares and maintain a reasonable amount of reserves against their downside EBIT of $200 million. At the BBB rating, Deluxe would hold 35.4% debt to capital ratio. With this new round of debt financing, Deluxe would see a steady increase in free cash flows on their balance sheet (see Exhibit 4). The only counter-argument I could foresee is the board of director’s unwillingness to test these scenarios with the possibly of negatively affecting the firm’s capital. Although, to me, it’s fair to say that Deluxe has had the wealth of the shareholders in mind by returning $600 million to them over the past 18 months, and will continue to do so while striving for a better leveraged firm if they decide to issue investment-grade rated bonds. V. Conclusion Due to technological advancements in the early 2000s, the paper checking industry took a big hit, especially Deluxe Corporation. Their sales and earnings started to decrease and they had already exhausted all resources to repurchase stocks from their shareholders. Therefore, they decided to assess their debt policy at the time, trying to balance an appropriate
Based on the optimal capital structure analysis, they should pursue as 70% debt proportion, which will give them the lowest cost of capital at 11.58%. Currently Star has no debt in their capital structure, so these new projects should begin to add debt to the company. However, no matter what debt and equity proportions are chosen for each project, the discount rate of 11.58% should be used, as the capital budgeting decisions should be independ...
MCI current capital structure is x% debt and y% equity. Their key ratios are a, b, and c. Comparing to other firms in the utilities industry they appear to be underutilizing (debt/equity). (See exhibit D). Referencing the forecast there is expected to b...
However, financial situation of the firm plays a very important role in the decision of the bondholder and this company has been one of the most profitable companies America in terms of ROE, ROA ad gross profit margin. Apart from decrease in earnings and cash flow in 1997, UST had continuous increases in sales (10-year compound annual growth rate of 9%), earnings (11%) and cash flow (12%). They are generating their cash flows out of the operations. Thanks to their premium pricing, they are achieving more than average gross profit margin. So, over the years UST's revenues are stable and positive, and generally its statements are positive. The company does not have any problems with its cash flow.
Looking at the individual ratios seen in exhibit 1 and comparing it to the industry average shown in exhibit 2 gives a sense of where this company stands. Current ratio and quick ratio are really low and have been decreasing. For 1995, the current ratio is 1.15:1, which is less than the industry average of 1.60:1, however to give a better sense of where this stands in the industry, as seen in exhibit 3, it is actually less than the average of the bottom 25% of the industry. The quick ratio is 0.61 is less than the industry is 0.90. Both these ratios serve to point out the lack of cash in this company. The cash flow has been decreasing because, it takes longer to get the money from customers, but the company still needs to pay for its purchases. Also, the company couldn’t go over the $400,000 loan limit, so they were forced to stretch their cash.
The increase in debt ratio has attracted the attention of rating agencies who have clearly stated that in order for HCA to maintain their A bond rating, HCA must return to their 60-40 capital structure. Now the question arises as to whether the A rating should be sought or should HCA move to a less conservative position. Some investors believe that a more aggressive use of leverage would present greater opportunities in the future. Others feel that with changes in the Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement structure on the horizon, HCA should remain conservative. In order to decrease the debt ratio, HCA would have to 1) decrease the growth rate (inadvertently decreasing ROE) or 2) decrease debt/increase equity.
Northrup National Bank should extend the loan to Butler. The company will roll much of its existing debt into the new loan, without extending itself significantly further than it currently is, and at a more favorable rate. Butler has been successful in keeping current on its debts, and based on projections should have the means to start paying these debts down. From the bank’s perspective, there’s little risk involved. With the industry expected to grow so much in the next year, Butler will be in a strong position, and potentially interested in borrowing more at the end of 1991.
In 1987,Marriott's sales grew by 24% and its return on equity (ROE)Stood at 22% .Sales and earnings per share had doubled over the previous 4 years, and the operating strategy was aimed at continuing this trend. Marriott’s 1987 annual report stated:
For both years, approximately 26.5% of the assets were financed by the company's creditors (long –term and current creditors). The fair value of the assets would have to decline to 26.5% below their carrying amount. The creditors would not be protected in liquidation.
Moore, P. (n.d.) Target to add PFresh grocery concept at 350 stores. Business News – The Business Journals. Retrieved March 13, 2012, from http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/11/16/daily32.html
Target Corporation's strategic structure plans are continuing staffing the organization and assemble a well-talented management team. Also, continue recruiting and retaining employees with the needed experience. Another option is to acquire, develop and strengthen resources and capabilities in performing critical value chain activities to match changing market conditions and customer expectations. Target Corporation needs to explore multidivisional or matrix organization structure to facilitate strategy execution, delegate authority, and managing external relationships (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble and Strickland, 2016).
The averaged price/earnings (P/E) ratios for ADCT are 36, 36.3, 39.4, 27.5, and 64.1 for years 1995-1999 respectively. The P/E ratio for ADCT is very stable from 1995 to 1997. In 1998, the P/E ratio fell over 43% to 27.5. The P/E ratio then rocketed to 64.1 in 1999, a 57% increase in one year. This dramatic increase indicates current investors are placing more value on future earnings as compared to previous years. One-reason ADCT investors pay more to own the stock is the growth potential in the communication equipment sector. For example, Internet traffic doubles every 100 days, illustrating the growth potential for ADCT's sales and bottom line earnings (Annual Report, 1999). Investors are currently willing to buy the stock at an inflated price due to two main reasons, the company's future earning potential and present growth rate in the industry.
YakkaTech Corp. is growing IT services firm which mainly installs and upgrades enterprise software systems and related hardware. They have grown and consolidated as well as become more efficient at their business but this isn’t without growing pains. Their employees seem to lack job satisfaction and their customers feel that the employees “seem indifferent to their problems.” The company’s voluntary quit rates have risen above the industry average while management raises pay rates in the hopes that customer service quality and productivity would improve. However, customer service complaints and productivity remain low and employee moral seems to be low as well.
The return on equity ratio is calculated by dividing the net income minus dividends by the equity. Per the Principles of Accounting textbook, “return on equities ratio enables the comparison of capital utilization among firms…this can help assess of effective the firm is in using borrowed funds”. Kinder Morgan’s return on equity ratio for December 2015 was .59%. In 2013 the ratio was 9.14% and in 2014 it was 3.01%. The return on equity ratio, like the return on assets ratio significantly declined over the past three years. One significant decrease to cause this decline is due to the deterioration of net income. Kinder Morgan’s net income from 2013 to 2015 was $1.19 billion, $1.02 billion, and $240 million successively. This sharp decline in net income can cause misplaced judgment on the decline of the debt ratios. When Kinder Morgan had a much higher income, their debt ratios were much
In order to reach a decision on which method of raising finance would be appropriate for Barra Airlines an analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of both the debt and equity method must be undertaken.
The XYZ Corporation was established in 2004 and their main office is located in Vancouver, BC. The company’s main objective is to create new innovating technology for media devices, computers, and digital music players. They deal with the design, manufacturing and marketing of the products. XYZ Corporation has been providing Canadians with groundbreaking technology throughout the years and continues to create new technology to provide others with top-level technology. Although, recently their success rate has appeared to drop rapidly due to a number of factors that will be explored throughout this case study. Their main objective is to target the problems so that they can work towards having the issues resolved as quickly as possible. If they do not take any course of action, the state of the company may be in extreme danger. This case study is designed to explore the areas of the company and discover the problems blocking the XYZ Corporation from success.