E Section C Theory Flashcards
(95 cards)
How can the financial acceptability to shareholders of the proposal to buy back loan notes can be assessed?
By calculating whether shareholder wealth is increased or decreased as a result
Advantage of bank overdraft?
Availability (most companies are offered overdrafts by their banks) and flexibility (the level of finance automatically adjusts to requirements).
Disadvantage of bank ovedraft?
Risk of the bank asking the overdraft to be repaid at short notice (technically repayable on demand)
Advantage of trade credit from suppliers
There are no issue costs or arrangement fees
Disadvantage of trade credit from suppliers
Risk of losing early payment discounts and if excessive credit is taken, credit is refused in the future
What is a bill of exchange?
Written acknowledgement of a debt to be paid at some time in the future (e.g. by an overseas customer)
What is commercial paper?
Commercial paper is short-term (usually less than 270 days) unsecured debt issued by high quality companies
Advantage of commercial paper for issuer?
Large sums can be raised relatively quickly and cheaply and no security is required
Disadvantage of commercial paper for issuer?
Commercial paper market is only open to companies with very good credit ratings
Main advantage of retained earnings?
It is fast (assuming the company has cash available) and avoids the transactions costs often involved in taking external credit
Main disadvantage of retained earnings?
If a company is loss making, internal finance is unavailable
What is a rights issue?
Involves issuing shares to the existing shareholders in proportion to their existing holding
Why use a rights issue (cheaper)
Cheaper to arrange than a public issue but the amount of finance raised is limited as there is a finite amount that shareholders will be willing to invest
What is private placing?
When a company, usually with the assistance of an intermediary, seeks out new investors on a one-to-one basis. Shares are normally issued to financial institutions when performing a placing rather than to individuals
What is private placing useful for?
Useful source of new equity for an unlisted company but control of the company will be diluted as a result
What is a public offer?
If the company is listed, it may undertake a public offer whereby shares are offered for sale to the public at large
Advantage of public offer?
Allow very large amounts of equity finance to be raised, and will also give a wide spread of ownership
Disadvantage of public offer?
An expensive way of issuing shares as there are significant regulatory costs involved and like the placing, control of the existing shareholders will be diluted
What is an IPO?
If the company is not listed, it can list through the process of an IPO which will raise equity at the same time
Why is IPO the most expensive method of raising equity finance?
There are further regulations having to be complied with, increasing costs. Consequently, only a large company wishing to raise a significant amount of finance would consider this option
What does the signalling effect suggest when reducing a dividend?
Dividend announcement will send a message or “signal” to the market. Generally, a reduction in dividend (such as proposed here) could be interpreted as bad news by investors and result in a fall in LaForge Co’s share price
What does the clientele effect suggest when reducing a dividend?
When company consistently paid dividends in the past so switching to a lower/zero pay-out could alienate some shareholders
What does liquidity preference suggest when reducing a dividend?
It is thought that shareholders, even those who prefer low pay-outs/high reinvestment, still wish to receive some dividend now as this is a certain return
Issue price and rights issue?
Rights issues shares are offered at a discount to the market value. It can be difficult to judge what the amount of the discount should be