How to Prepare a Project Report for Zenith Investment Bank CEO

To provide you with appropriate support and ensure that you meet the above target, the first requirement necessitates that you prepare a project report to the Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Investment Bank and a brief presentation as an appendix (not exceeding 10 slides) to convince him that you did a good valuation exercise. Your ability to convince the CEO qualifies you for a big bonus after the exercise.

The CEO expects to see the following in your report (2,500 words +/- 10%, excluding references and appendices) and will give the following weight allocation for each section of the report:

I.Executive Summary 5%

II.Background and Analysis 40%

Comprising

1.Brief background analysis of the macro and market environment in which the company operates (up to 5%)

2.Company Analysis: Full analysis of the company’s operational and financial performance over the historical period, including a Du Pont analysis, debt repayment capacity and internal capital generation analysis (up to 20%)

3.SWOT or similar analysis (eg. PESTLE) of the company (up to 10%)

4.Summary of findings in steps 1 to 3 (up to 5%)

III.Company Valuation and recommendations 30%

• Make key recommendations on what is needed to restructure the chosen company and demonstrate in a quantifiable manner how much value will be created based on your recommended course of action, against if the company were to stay in its as-is situation.

oValuation of the selected company’s stock should be based on DDM, P/E multiples and DCF Analysis.

IV.Tools, Critical Thinking, Structure, Appendices 25%

Comprising

• Demonstrate critical thinking through your submission by connecting to materials discussed and using any appropriate tools applied in this class or in other related courses you have covered (up to 10%)
• Your report should be well structured, written intelligently, with an executive summary, table of contents and loosely follow the DMU report writing structure (DMU, 2019g).  All citations should be in accordance with the Harvard system of referencing and should be presented alphabetically (DMU, 2019a) (up to 10%)
• Appendix 1: Presentation to the Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Investment Bank (not more than 10 slides) to convince him that you have a winning proposal (up to 5%)

MARKING SCHEME

This is a guide to the criteria used in assigning a mark to a piece of work. The final mark awarded to a piece of work will be informed by its predominant correspondence to these descriptors. Mark descriptors are given in the table below.  A mark below 50% indicates a Fail grade.

Indicates that no fault can be found with the work other than very minor errors, for example typographical, or perhaps failure to satisfy the most challenging and exacting demands of the assessment.

Indicates a very high level of understanding evidenced by an ability to engage critically and analytically with source material.  Likely to exhibit independent lines of argument. Only minor errors or omissions.

Judged to be very good, yet not outstanding. May contain minor errors or omissions. A well developed response showing clear knowledge and the ability to interpret and/or apply that knowledge.

Indicates a sound understanding of basic points and principles but with some failure to express or to apply them properly. Hence the answer is essentially correct, has some errors or omissions, and is not seriously flawed.

Indicates a more limited understanding of basic points and principles, with significant errors and omissions.  These errors and omissions, however, do not cast doubt on the basic level of understanding.

Indicates questionable understanding of basic points and principles yet sufficient to show that learning outcomes have been achieved at a rudimentary level.

Indicates an answer that shows only weakly developed elements of understanding. The learning outcomes have been insufficiently realised.

Very little knowledge has been demonstrated and the presentation shows little coherence of material or argument.