Fight Finance

Question 49  inflation, real and nominal returns and cash flows, APR, effective rate

In Australia, nominal yields on semi-annual coupon paying Government Bonds with 2 years until maturity are currently 2.83% pa.

The inflation rate is currently 2.2% 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) 0.3086%

(b) 0.6171%

(c) 0.6181%

(d) 0.6239%

(e) 0.6300%

Question 114  WACC, capital structure, risk

A firm's WACC before tax would decrease due to:

(a) the firm's industry becoming more systematically risky, for example if it was a mining company and commodities prices varied more strongly and were more positively correlated with the market portfolio.

(b) the firm's industry becoming less systematically risky, for example if it was a child care centre and the government announced permanently higher subsidies for parents' child care expenses.

(c) the firm issuing more debt and using the proceeds to repurchase stock.

(d) the firm issuing more equity and using the proceeds to pay off debt holders.

(e) none of the above.

Question 259  fully amortising loan, APR

You want to buy a house priced at $400,000. You have saved a deposit of $40,000. The bank has agreed to lend you $360,000 as a fully amortising loan with a term of 30 years. The interest rate is 8% pa payable monthly and is not expected to change.

What will be your monthly payments?

(a) $1,000

(b) $1,106.6497

(c) $2,400

(d) $2,571.8327

(e) $2,641.5525

Question 282  expected and historical returns, income and capital returns

You're the boss of an investment bank's equities research team. Your five analysts are each trying to find the expected total return over the next year of shares in a mining company. The mining firm:

• Is regarded as a mature company since it's quite stable in size and was floated around 30 years ago. It is not a high-growth company;
• Share price is very sensitive to changes in the price of the market portfolio, economic growth, the exchange rate and commodities prices. Due to this, its standard deviation of total returns is much higher than that of the market index;
• Experienced tough times in the last 10 years due to unexpected falls in commodity prices.
• Shares are traded in an active liquid market.

Your team of analysts present their findings, and everyone has different views. While there's no definitive true answer, whose calculation of the expected total return is the most plausible? Assume that:

• The analysts' source data is correct and true, but their inferences might be wrong;
• All returns and yields are given as effective annual nominal rates.

(a) Alice says 5% pa since she calculated that this was the average total yield on government bonds over the last 10 years. She says that this is also the expected total yield implied by current prices on one year government bonds.

(b) Bob says 4% pa since he calculated that this was the average total return on the mining stock over the last 10 years.

(c) Cate says 3% pa since she calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share price over the last 10 years.

(d) Dave says 6% pa since he calculated that this was the average growth rate of the share market price index (not the accumulation index) over the last 10 years.

(e) Eve says 15% pa since she calculated that this was the discount rate implied by the dividend discount model using the current share price, forecast dividend in one year and a 3% growth rate in dividends thereafter, which is the expected long term inflation rate.

Question 511  capital budgeting, CFFA

Find the cash flow from assets (CFFA) of the following project.

One Year Mining Project Data
Project life	1 year
Initial investment in building mine and equipment	$9m
Depreciation of mine and equipment over the year	$8m
Kilograms of gold mined at end of year	1,000
Sale price per kilogram	$0.05m
Variable cost per kilogram	$0.03m
Before-tax cost of closing mine at end of year	$4m
Tax rate	30%

Note 1: Due to the project, the firm also anticipates finding some rare diamonds which will give before-tax revenues of $1m at the end of the year.

Note 2: The land that will be mined actually has thermal springs and a family of koalas that could be sold to an eco-tourist resort for an after-tax amount of $3m right now. However, if the mine goes ahead then this natural beauty will be destroyed.

Note 3: The mining equipment will have a book value of $1m at the end of the year for tax purposes. However, the equipment is expected to fetch $2.5m when it is sold.

Find the project's CFFA at time zero and one. Answers are given in millions of dollars ($m), with the first cash flow at time zero, and the second at time one.

(a) -9,   15.65

(b) -9,   14.3

(c) -12,   16.8

(d) -12,   16.35

(e) -12,   14.3

Question 571  foreign exchange rate

An Indonesian lady wishes to convert 1 million Indonesian rupiah (IDR) to Australian dollars (AUD). Exchange rates are 13,125 IDR per USD and 0.79 USD per AUD. How many AUD is the IDR 1 million worth?

(a) AUD 16,613,924,050.63

(b) AUD 10,368,750,000.00

(c) AUD 10,368.75

(d) AUD 96.44

(e) AUD 60.19

Question 673  CAPM, beta, expected and historical returns

A stock has a beta of 1.5. The market's expected total return is 10% pa and the risk free rate is 5% pa, both given as effective annual rates.

In the last 5 minutes, bad economic news was released showing a higher chance of recession. Over this time the share market fell by 1%. The risk free rate was unchanged.

What do you think was the stock's historical return over the last 5 minutes, given as an effective 5 minute rate?

(a) -12.5%

(b) -4%

(c) -1.5%

(d) -1%

(e) 12.5%

Question 680  option, no explanation

A trader buys one crude oil European style put option contract on the CME expiring in one year with an exercise price of $44 per barrel for a price of $6.64. The crude oil spot price is $40.33. If the trader doesn’t close out her contract before maturity, then at maturity she will have the:

(a) Obligation to sell the underlying oil at $44 per barrel.

(b) Right to buy the underlying oil at $44 per barrel if she wants.

(c) Right to sell the underlying oil at $44 per barrel if she wants.

(d) Obligation to buy the underlying oil $44 per barrel if the counterparty chooses to sell it.

(e) Obligation to sell the underlying oil at $44 per barrel if the counterparty chooses to buy it.

Question 819  option, derivative terminology, no explanation

Which of the following terms about options are NOT synonyms?

(a) Option premium, option price.

(b) Strike price, exercise price.

(c) Payoff at maturity, profit.

(d) Maturity, expiry.

(e) Short, sell.

Question 943  dividend date, ex dividend date

On which date would the stock price increase if the dividend and earnings are higher than expected?

(a) Announcement date

(b) Last cum-dividend date

(c) Ex-dividend date

(d) Record date

(e) Payment date