Fight Finance

Question 24  implicit interest rate in wholesale credit, effective rate

A bathroom and plumbing supplies shop offers credit to its customers. Customers are given 60 days to pay for their goods, but if they pay within 7 days they will get a 2% discount.

What is the effective interest rate implicit in the discount being offered? Assume 365 days in a year and that all customers pay on either the 7th day or the 60th day. All rates given in this question are effective annual rates.

(a) 0.0004

(b) 0.1299

(c) 0.1308

(d) 0.1377

(e) 0.1493

Question 41  DDM, income and capital returns

The following is the Dividend Discount Model (DDM) used to price stocks:

### P_0 = \frac{d_1}{r-g} ###

Assume that the assumptions of the DDM hold and that the time period is measured in years.

Which of the following is equal to the expected dividend in 3 years, ## d_3 ##?

(a) ## d_1(1+g)^3 ##

(b) ## P_3(r-g) ##

(c) ## d_2(1+g)^2 ##

(d) ## P_0(1+g)^3(r-g) ##

(e) ## P_0(1+g)^2(r-g) ##

Question 64  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows, APR, effective rate

In Germany, nominal yields on semi-annual coupon paying Government Bonds with 2 years until maturity are currently 0.04% pa.

The inflation rate is currently 1.4% pa, given as an APR compounding per quarter. The inflation rate is not expected to change over the next 2 years.

What is the real yield on these bonds, given as an APR compounding every 6 months?

(a) -1.3529627%

(b) -0.4977348%

(c) 0.4977348%

(d) 1.3529627%

(e) 1.3621776%

Question 243  fundamental analysis, market efficiency

Fundamentalists who analyse company financial reports and news announcements (but who don't have inside information) will make positive abnormal returns if:

(a) Markets are weak and semi-strong form efficient but strong-form inefficient.

(b) Markets are weak form efficient but semi-strong and strong-form inefficient.

(c) Chartists make negative excess returns.

(d) Insiders make positive excess returns.

(e) Insiders make negative excess returns.

Question 293  covariance, correlation, portfolio risk

All things remaining equal, the higher the correlation of returns between two stocks:

(a) The more diversification is possible when those stocks are combined in a portfolio.

(b) The lower the variance of returns of an equally-weighted portfolio of those stocks.

(c) The lower the volatility of returns of an equal-weighted portfolio of those stocks.

(d) The higher the covariance between those stocks' returns.

(e) The more likely that when one stock has a positive return, the other has a negative return.

Question 374  debt terminology

Which of the following statements is NOT equivalent to the yield on debt?

Assume that the debt being referred to is fairly priced, but do not assume that it's priced at par.

(a) Debt coupon rate.

(b) Required return on debt.

(c) Total return on debt.

(d) Opportunity cost of debt.

(e) Cost of debt capital.

Question 398  financial distress, capital raising, leverage, capital structure, NPV

A levered firm has zero-coupon bonds which mature in one year and have a combined face value of $9.9m.

Investors are risk-neutral and therefore all debt and equity holders demand the same required return of 10% pa.

In one year the firm's assets will be worth:

• $13.2m with probability 0.5 in the good state of the world, or
• $6.6m with probability 0.5 in the bad state of the world.

A new project presents itself which requires an investment of $2m and will provide a certain cash flow of $3.3m in one year.

The firm doesn't have any excess cash to make the initial $2m investment, but the funds can be raised from shareholders through a fairly priced rights issue. Ignore all transaction costs.

Should shareholders vote to proceed with the project and equity raising? What will be the gain in shareholder wealth if they decide to proceed?

(a) Yes, $3m

(b) Yes, $1.5m

(c) Yes, $1m

(d) No, -$0.5m

(e) No, -$1.5m

Question 790  mean and median returns, return distribution, arithmetic and geometric averages, continuously compounding rate, log-normal distribution, VaR, confidence interval

A risk manager has identified that their hedge fund’s continuously compounded portfolio returns are normally distributed with a mean of 10% pa and a standard deviation of 30% pa. The hedge fund’s portfolio is currently valued at $100 million. Assume that there is no estimation error in these figures and that the normal cumulative density function at 1.644853627 is 95%.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct? All answers are rounded to the nearest dollar.

(a) Future portfolio values have a log-normal distribution. The mean (expected or arithmetic average) portfolio value in one year is $115,603,957.

(b) The median (50th percentile) portfolio value in one year is $115,603,957.

(c) The 90% confidence interval of continuously compounded portfolio returns over the next year ##(r_{0 \rightarrow 1})## is ##-39.3456088\% < r_{0 \rightarrow 1} < 59.3456088\%##.

(d) The 90% confidence interval of portfolio values in one year ##(V_1)## is ##\$67,472,095 < V_1 < \$181,023,395##.

(e) The annual 95% relative VaR is $48,131,863 and the absolute VaR is $32,527,905.

Question 815  expected and historical returns

If future required returns fall, and future expected cash flows remain the same, then prices will , or remain the ?

Question 913  bill pricing, money market

A 90 day bank bill has a face value of $100,000.

Investor A bought the bill when it was first issued at a simple yield to maturity of 3% pa and sold it 20 days later to Investor B who expected to earn a simple yield to maturity of 5% pa. Investor B held it until maturity.

Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(a) The bill’s initial price was $99,265.71.

(b) The bill’s price on day 20 was $99,726.78.

(c) The historical yield on day 20 since the bond was first issued was -3.9620% pa.

(d) Other similar bill yields to maturity would have also risen over the first 20 days.

(e) Investor B paid a bill price on day 20 that was less than the face value.