西藏考生：ACCA考试成绩有效期是多久？

3 The managers of Daylon plc are reviewing the company’s investment portfolio. About 15% of the portfolio is represented by a holding of 5,550,000 ordinary shares of Mondglobe plc. The managers are concerned about the effect on portfolio value if the price of Mondglobe’s shares should fall, and are considering selling the shares. Daylon’s investment bank has suggested that the risk of Mondglobe’s shares falling by more than 5% from their current value could be protected against by buying an over the counter option. The investment bank is prepared to sell an appropriate six month option to Daylon for ￡250,000.

Other information:

(i) The current market price of Mondglobe’s ordinary shares is 360 pence.

(ii) The annual volatility (variance) of Mondglobe’s shares for the last year was 169%.

(iii) The risk free rate is 4% per year.

(iv) No dividend is expected to be paid by Mondglobe during the next six months.

Required:

(a) Evaluate whether or not the price at which the investment bank is willing to sell the option is a fair price.(10 marks)

1 Rowlands & Medeleev (R&M), a major listed European civil engineering company, was successful in its bid to become

principal (lead) contractor to build the Giant Dam Project in an East Asian country. The board of R&M prided itself in

observing the highest standards of corporate governance. R&M’s client, the government of the East Asian country, had

taken into account several factors in appointing the principal contractor including each bidder’s track record in large

civil engineering projects, the value of the bid and a statement, required from each bidder, on how it would deal with

the ‘sensitive issues’ and publicity that might arise as a result of the project.

The Giant Dam Project was seen as vital to the East Asian country’s economic development as it would provide a

large amount of hydroelectric power. This was seen as a ‘clean energy’ driver of future economic growth. The

government was keen to point out that because hydroelectric power did not involve the burning of fossil fuels, the

power would be environmentally clean and would contribute to the East Asian country’s ability to meet its

internationally agreed carbon emission targets. This, in turn, would contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases

in the environment. Critics, such as the environmental pressure group ‘Stop-the-dam’, however, argued that the

project was far too large and the cost to the local environment would be unacceptable. Stop-the-dam was highly

organised and, according to press reports in Europe, was capable of disrupting progress on the dam by measures such

as creating ‘human barriers’ to the site and hiding people in tunnels who would have to be physically removed before

proceeding. A spokesman for Stop-the-dam said it would definitely be attempting to resist the Giant Dam Project when

construction started.

The project was intended to dam one of the region’s largest rivers, thus creating a massive lake behind it. The lake

would, the critics claimed, not only displace an estimated 100,000 people from their homes, but would also flood

productive farmland and destroy several rare plant and animal habitats. A number of important archaeological sites

would also be lost. The largest community to be relocated was the indigenous First Nation people who had lived on

and farmed the land for an estimated thousand years. A spokesman for the First Nation community said that the ‘true

price’ of hydroelectric power was ‘misery and cruelty’. A press report said that whilst the First Nation would be unlikely

to disrupt the building of the dam, it was highly likely that they would protest and also attempt to mobilise opinion in

other parts of the world against the Giant Dam Project.

The board of R&M was fully aware of the controversy when it submitted its tender to build the dam. The finance

director, Sally Grignard, had insisted on putting an amount into the tender for the management of ‘local risks’. Sally

was also responsible for the financing of the project for R&M. Although the client was expected to release money in

several ‘interim payments’ as the various parts of the project were completed to strict time deadlines, she anticipated

a number of working capital challenges for R&M, especially near the beginning where a number of early stage costs

would need to be incurred. There would, she explained, also be financing issues in managing the cash flows to R&M’s

many subcontractors. Although the major banks financed the client through a lending syndicate, R&M’s usual bank

said it was wary of lending directly to R&M for the Giant Dam Project because of the potential negative publicity that

might result. Another bank said it would provide R&M with its early stage working capital needs on the understanding

that its involvement in financing R&M to undertake the Giant Dam Project was not disclosed. A press statement from

Stop-the-dam said that it would do all it could to discover R&M’s financial lenders and publicly expose them. Sally

told the R&M board that some debt financing would be essential until the first interim payments from the client

became available.

When it was announced that R&M had won the contract to build the Giant Dam Project, some of its institutional

shareholders contacted Richard Markovnikoff, the chairman. They wanted reassurance that the company had fully

taken the environmental issues and other risks into account. One fund manager asked if Mr Markovnikoff could

explain the sustainability implications of the project to assess whether R&M shares were still suitable for his

environmentally sensitive clients. Mr Markovnikoff said, through the company’s investor relations department, that he

intended to give a statement at the next annual general meeting (AGM) that he hoped would address these

environmental concerns. He would also, he said, make a statement on the importance of confidentiality in the

financing of the early stage working capital needs.

(a) Any large project such as the Giant Dam Project has a number of stakeholders.

Required:

(i) Define the terms ‘stakeholder’ and ‘stakeholder claim’, and identify from the case FOUR of R&M’s

external stakeholders as it carries out the Giant Dam Project; (6 marks)

2 Good Sports Limited is an independent sports goods retailer owned and operated by two partners, Alan and Bob. The

sports retailing business in the UK has undergone a major change over the past ten years. First of all the supply side

has been transformed by the emergence of a few global manufacturers of the core sports products, such as training

shoes and football shirts. This consolidation has made them increasingly unwilling to provide good service to the

independent sportswear retailers too small to buy in sufficiently large quantities. These independent retailers can stock

popular global brands, but have to order using the Internet and have no opportunity to meet the manufacturer’s sales

representatives. Secondly, UK’s sportswear retailing has undergone significant structural change with the rapid growth

of a small number of national retail chains with the buying power to offset the power of the global manufacturers.

These retail chains stock a limited range of high volume branded products and charge low prices the independent

retailer cannot hope to match.

Good Sports has survived by becoming a specialist niche retailer catering for less popular sports such as cricket,

hockey and rugby. They are able to offer the specialist advice and stock the goods that their customers want.

Increasingly since 2000 Good Sports has become aware of the growing impact of e-business in general and e-retailing

in particular. They employed a specialist website designer and created an online purchasing facility for their

customers. The results were less than impressive, with the Internet search engines not picking up the company

website. The seasonal nature of Good Sports’ business, together with the variations in sizes and colours needed to

meet an individual customer’s needs, meant that the sales volumes were insufficient to justify the costs of running

the site.

Bob, however, is convinced that developing an e-business strategy suited to the needs of the independent sports

retailer such as Good Sports will be key to business survival. He has been encouraged by the growing interest of

customers in other countries to the service and product range they offer. He is also aware of the need to integrate an

e-business strategy with their current marketing, which to date has been limited to the sponsorship of local sports

teams and advertisements taken in specialist sports magazines. Above all, he wants to avoid head-on competition

with the national retailers and their emphasis on popular branded sportswear sold at retail prices that are below the

cost price at which Good Sports can buy the goods.

Required:

(a) Provide the partners with a short report on the advantages and disadvantages to Good Sports of developing

an e-business strategy and the processes most likely to be affected by such a strategy. (12 marks)