Good morning We met during your induction and I am delighted to pass you your first assignment for the company. We have been contacted by a new client, Wandsleigh Wands Ltd. They are a UK privately owned company focusing upon the manufactor of techniology products under licence (covering the period 2018-2028). Their stated aim is to be able to compete with Oxford Instruments Plc and whilst this is a laudable ambition any benchmarking may be more useful to sm

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

Scenario

You are Simon / Simone, the new associate analyst of Landtech, a London based financial services consultancy.

Today is 09.00 am Monday 21^st September and you have received the following e-mail

Subject Wandsleigh Wands

Steve Jobbers  steve.jobbers@landtech.co.uk

Sun 20^th September 2020 22.15

Simon / Simone s.rihad@landtech.co.uk

Good morning

We met during your induction and I am delighted to pass you your first assignment for the company.

We have been contacted by a new client, Wandsleigh Wands Ltd. They are a UK privately owned company focusing upon the manufactor of techniology products under licence (covering the period 2018-2028). Their stated aim is to be able to compete with Oxford Instruments Plc and whilst this is a laudable ambition any benchmarking may be more useful to smaller TechMark company (or maybe OI plus a closer proxy company).

 

A range different products are produced each period to meet existing client orders. Currently the company is direct labour-intensive orientated utilising highly skilled and qualified staff. Due to the nature of the jobs, there is a low level of indirect costs relative to direct costs.

Our clients financial performance has been deteriorating although not significantly affected by Covid-19. The directors have set out a proposal to change the operational structure of the business and have asked for our independent critique of the proposal. They claim to demand an investment return of 20% on all parts of the business.

The directors have a difficult relationship with the owners so treadcarefully. In particular the owners are not strong advocates of the company CSR efforts to support reduce reliance on traditional energy and to support local charities.

In the file posted on the server (VLE) I have shared some initial research and baseline figures. You must undertake the following critical analysis:

Assignment Task

You are required to prepare a report, using the information provided above covering the following areas:

1. Benchmark the financial result of the client company against Oxford Instruments and your preferred proxy company.
2. A spreadsheet model forecasting the impact of the proposal over the next 5 years of the business case and a critical evaluation of the proposal using investment appraisal techniques and relevant benchmarking concluding with a critical discussion of the results of this analysis. Note the spreadsheet will be developed collabritively by your colleagues and your tutors
3. An up-to-date estimate of the company’s cost of capital using publicly available data considering a risk neutral (DVM) and risk changing(CAPM) approach. Assess the impact of your revised cost of capital on the  proposal.
4. Critically evaluate the proposal as it stands and make recommendations to improve the viability of the proposal.
5. A discussion and evaluation of how the company might meet the funding requirements of the proposal.
6. A brief critical discussion of the corporate social responsibility issues raised by the proposal.
7. A critical, supported conclusion providing recommendations for the adoption or otherwise of the proposal.