You are required to do the following:
1.Prepare a brief description of the companies, outlining the core activities, the markets they operate within and any factors in the companies’ history which you consider help present a “picture” of your company.                           
2.Specify ownership-governance structure of the company:
•Name the main substantial shareholders:
With higher than 20.00% of shareholdings. Based on this argument you should classify a firm as a family or non-family company, and With higher than 5.00% of shareholdings.
Name the main people involved in the firm governance:
.A Chairman
.Board members
.CEO.
oWhether any of these people has the same surname as any of substantial shareholders (>20% share capital). If yes- you could use this as an argument for the presence of an owner or family member(s) in the firm’s governance.
oWhether any of shareholders with more than 5% share capital is involved in firm governance.                                                                                                          
ii)Explain what phenomenon is being “captured” by the variable TA/OE, and how it is impacting on the relationship between Return on Assets and Return on Owners Equity.                                                                              
Be sure to explain why the ROE (EBIT) is significantly greater than or less than the ROA (EBIT).
4.Using the information from the Australian Stock Exchange website: www.asx.com.au, you must complete the following tasks:
i)Prepare a graph / chart for movements in the monthly share price over the last two years for both of the companies that you are investigating. Plot them against movements in the All Ordinaries Index.  
ii)Write a report which compares movements in the companies’ share price index to the All Ords Index.  For instance, how closely correlated were the two lines with the All Ords Index.  Above or below?  More or less volatile?  
5.Research via the internet or financial/business publications:
i)From research via the internet (using credible sources) or financial/business publications, note any significant announcements which may have influenced the share price of your company. These factors could include merger activities, divestitures, changes in management’s earnings forecasts, changes in analysts’ forecasts, unusual write-offs or abnormal items, macroeconomic factors, industry wide factors, significant management changes, changes in the focus of the company, impact of competitors or law suits etc.  (Restrict the number of announcements to 5).                                                                                                      
6. Go on-line to http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/ and type in the code for your company into the Search Stocks field and click on the magnifying glass button.  
i)What is their calculated beta for your company?             
ii)If the risk free rate is 4% and the market Risk Premium is 6%, use the Capital Asset Pricing Model to calculate the required rate of return for the companies’ shares.                                                            
iii)Is the company you and your partner have chosen a “conservative” investment?  Explain your answer.                                                    
7. Weighted Average Cost of Capital   (WACC)
i)Using information from the latest company report for each company (i.e. interest rate on their major source of long-term loans) and the estimated cost of equity capital calculated in part 6ii above, calculate the WACC for both companies.
6 marks
ii)Explain the implications that a higher WACC has on management’s evaluation on prospective investment projects.
8. Consider the gearing ratios for your company over the past two years:
i)Does it appear to be working towards the maintenance of a preferred optimal capital structure?  (i.e., does it appear to be “stable”?)     Explain your answer.
ii)What have they done to adjust / amend their gearing ratio?  Increase or repay borrowings?  Issue or buy back shares?  Has the Director’s Report given any information as to why they have made any adjustments?
9.Dividend policy      
i)Discuss what the dividend policy of the management of the company appears to be.10.Based on your analysis above, write a letter of recommendation to your client, providing an explanation as why you would like to include this company in their investment portfolio. Please refer to the ratio results calculated earlier and any other trends or factors that you believe to be important.
11.Formal structure and referencing.

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