Question 121 capital structure, leverage, financial distress, interest tax shield
Fill in the missing words in the following sentence:
All things remaining equal, as a firm's amount of debt funding falls, benefits of interest tax shields __________ and the costs of financial distress __________.
Stocks in the United States usually pay quarterly dividends. For example, the software giant Microsoft paid a $0.23 dividend every quarter over the 2013 financial year and plans to pay a $0.28 dividend every quarter over the 2014 financial year.
Using the dividend discount model and net present value techniques, calculate the stock price of Microsoft assuming that:
- The time now is the beginning of July 2014. The next dividend of $0.28 will be received in 3 months (end of September 2014), with another 3 quarterly payments of $0.28 after this (end of December 2014, March 2015 and June 2015).
- The quarterly dividend will increase by 2.5% every year, but each quarterly dividend over the year will be equal. So each quarterly dividend paid in the financial year beginning in September 2015 will be $ 0.287 ##(=0.28×(1+0.025)^1)##, with the last at the end of June 2016. In the next financial year beginning in September 2016 each quarterly dividend will be $0.294175 ##(=0.28×(1+0.025)^2)##, with the last at the end of June 2017, and so on forever.
- The total required return on equity is 6% pa.
- The required return and growth rate are given as effective annual rates.
- Dividend payment dates and ex-dividend dates are at the same time.
- Remember that there are 4 quarters in a year and 3 months in a quarter.
What is the current stock price?
A mining firm has just discovered a new mine. So far the news has been kept a secret.
The net present value of digging the mine and selling the minerals is $250 million, but $500 million of new equity and $300 million of new bonds will need to be issued to fund the project and buy the necessary plant and equipment.
The firm will release the news of the discovery and equity and bond raising to shareholders simultaneously in the same announcement. The shares and bonds will be issued shortly after.
Once the announcement is made and the new shares and bonds are issued, what is the expected increase in the value of the firm's assets ##(\Delta V)##, market capitalisation of debt ##(\Delta D)## and market cap of equity ##(\Delta E)##? Assume that markets are semi-strong form efficient.
The triangle symbol ##\Delta## is the Greek letter capital delta which means change or increase in mathematics.
Ignore the benefit of interest tax shields from having more debt.
Remember: ##\Delta V = \Delta D+ \Delta E##
Question 469 franking credit, personal tax on dividends, imputation tax system, no explanation
A firm pays a fully franked cash dividend of $70 to one of its Australian shareholders who has a personal marginal tax rate of 45%. The corporate tax rate is 30%.
What will be the shareholder's personal tax payable due to the dividend payment?
A firm wishes to raise $10 million now. They will issue 6% pa semi-annual coupon bonds that will mature in 3 years and have a face value of $100 each. Bond yields are 5% pa, given as an APR compounding every 6 months, and the yield curve is flat.
How many bonds should the firm issue?
Mr Blue, Miss Red and Mrs Green are people with different utility functions.
Which of the following statements is NOT correct?
Question 732 real and nominal returns and cash flows, inflation, income and capital returns
An investor bought a bond for $100 (at t=0) and one year later it paid its annual coupon of $1 (at t=1). Just after the coupon was paid, the bond price was $100.50 (at t=1). Inflation over the past year (from t=0 to t=1) was 3% pa, given as an effective annual rate.
Which of the following statements is NOT correct? The bond investment produced a:
Question 858 indirect security, intermediated finance, no explanation
Which of the following transactions involves an ‘indirect security’ using a ‘financial intermediary’?
A one year European-style call option has a strike price of $4. The option's underlying stock pays no dividends and currently trades at $5. The risk-free interest rate is 10% pa continuously compounded. Use a single step binomial tree to calculate the option price, assuming that the price could rise to $8 ##(u = 1.6)## or fall to $3.125 ##(d = 1/1.6)## in one year. The call option price now is:
Question 882 Asian currency crisis, foreign exchange rate, original sin, no explanation
In the 1997 Asian currency crisis, the businesses most vulnerable to bankruptcy were those that: