A company has issued non－callable, non－convertible preferred stock with the following feat

The company has an issued share capital of $1m of $0·50 nominal value ordinary shares. The owners have made the following valuations of the company’s assets and liabilities.

The net realisable value of the non-current assets exceeds their book value by $4m. The current assets include $2m of accounts receivable which are thought to be irrecoverable. What is the minimum price per share which the owners should accept for the company？

A.$14

B.$25

C.$28

D.$13

you have been assigned

specific responsibility for undertaking annual reviews of existing clients. The following situations have arisen in

connection with three client companies:

(a) Dedza was appointed auditor and tax advisor to Kora Co, a limited liability company, last year and has recently

issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2005. To your surprise,

the tax authority has just launched an investigation into the affairs of Kora on suspicion of underdeclaring income.

(7 marks)

Required:

Identify and comment on the ethical and other professional issues raised by each of these matters and state what

action, if any, Dedza should now take.

NOTE: The mark allocation is shown against each of the three situations.

The market value of each ordinary share is $7·50. The company is also financed by 7% bonds with a nominal value of $100 per bond, which will be redeemed in seven years’ time at nominal value. The bonds have a total nominal value of $14 million. Interest on the bonds has just been paid and the current market value of each bond is $107·14.

Fence Co plans to invest in a project which is different to its existing business operations and has identified a company in the same business area as the project, Hex Co. The equity beta of Hex Co is 1·2 and the company has an equity market value of $54 million. The market value of the debt of Hex Co is $12 million.

The risk-free rate of return is 4% per year and the average return on the stock market is 11% per year. Both companies pay corporation tax at a rate of 20% per year.

Required:

(a) Calculate the current weighted average cost of capital of Fence Co. (7 marks)

(b) Calculate a cost of equity which could be used in appraising the new project. (4 marks)

(c) Explain the difference between systematic and unsystematic risk in relation to portfolio theory and the capital asset pricing model. (6 marks)

(d) Discuss the differences between weak form, semi-strong form. and strong form. capital market efficiency, and discuss the significance of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) for the financial manager. (8 marks)

(b) On 31 May 2007, Leigh purchased property, plant and equipment for $4 million. The supplier has agreed to

accept payment for the property, plant and equipment either in cash or in shares. The supplier can either choose

1·5 million shares of the company to be issued in six months time or to receive a cash payment in three months

time equivalent to the market value of 1·3 million shares. It is estimated that the share price will be $3·50 in

three months time and $4 in six months time.

Additionally, at 31 May 2007, one of the directors recently appointed to the board has been granted the right to

choose either 50,000 shares of Leigh or receive a cash payment equal to the current value of 40,000 shares at

the settlement date. This right has been granted because of the performance of the director during the year and

is unconditional at 31 May 2007. The settlement date is 1 July 2008 and the company estimates the fair value

of the share alternative is $2·50 per share at 31 May 2007. The share price of Leigh at 31 May 2007 is $3 per

share, and if the director chooses the share alternative, they must be kept for a period of four years. (9 marks)

Required:

Discuss with suitable computations how the above share based transactions should be accounted for in the

financial statements of Leigh for the year ended 31 May 2007.

shareholders over plans to

expand the company’s activities overseas. In order to resolve the position it has been agreed that Spica will sell her

shares back to the company. Once the purchase of her shares has taken place, the company intends to establish a

number of branches overseas and acquire a shareholding in a number of companies that are resident and trade in

overseas countries.

The following information has been obtained from client files and meetings with the parties involved.

Acrux Ltd:

– An unquoted UK resident company.

– Share capital consists of 50,000 ordinary shares issued at ￡1·90 per share in July 2000.

– None of the other shareholders has any connection with Spica.

The purchase of own shares:

– The company will purchase all of Spica’s shares for ￡8 per share.

– The transaction will take place by the end of 2008.

Spica:

– Purchased 8,000 shares in Acrux Ltd for ￡2 per share on 30 September 2003.

– Has no income in the tax year 2008/09.

– Has chargeable capital gains in the tax year 2008/09 of ￡3,800.

– Has houses in the UK and the country of Solaris and divides her time between them.

Investment in non-UK resident companies:

– Acrux Ltd will acquire between 15% and 20% of each of the non-UK resident companies.

– The companies will not be controlled foreign companies as the rates of tax in the overseas countries will be

between 23% and 42%.

– There may or may not be a double tax treaty between the UK and the overseas countries in which the companies

are resident. Where there is a treaty, it will be based on the OECD model treaty.

– None of the countries concerned levy withholding tax on dividends paid to UK companies.

– The directors of Acrux Ltd are concerned that the rate of tax suffered on the profits of the overseas companies

will be very high as they will be taxed in both the overseas country and in the UK.

Required:

(a) (i) Prepare detailed calculations to determine the most beneficial tax treatment of the payment Spica will

receive for her shares; (7 marks)

ompany, with a 31 July

year end. Damian personally owns 10% of the ordinary issued share capital of Linden Limited, for which he paid

￡10,000 in June 1998. He estimates that the current market value of Linden Limited is ￡9 million and that the

company will make taxable profits of ￡1·4 million in the forthcoming year to 31 July 2007.

(a) Damian believes that Linden Limited should conduct its activities in a socially responsible manner and to this

end has proposed that in future all cars purchased by the company should be low emission vehicles. The sales

director has stated that several of his staff, who are the main recipients of company cars, other than the directors,

are extremely unhappy with this proposal, perceiving it as downgrading their value and status.

The cars currently provided to the sales staff have a list price of ￡19,600, on which Linden Limited receives a

bulk purchase discount of 6% from the dealer, and a CO2 emission rate of 168 grams/kilometre. The company

pays for up to ￡400 of accessories, of the salesmen’s own choice to be fitted to the cars and all of the running

costs, including private petrol. The cars are replaced every three years and the ‘old’ cars are sold at auction,

because they are high mileage vehicles.

The low emission cars it is proposed to purchase will have the same list price as the current cars, but the dealer

is only prepared to offer a bulk discount of 5% on these vehicles. Damian does not propose to make any other

changes to Linden Limited’s company car policy or practice.

Required:

(i) Explain the tax consequences of the proposed move to low emission vehicles for both the individual

salesmen and Linden Limited, illustrating your answer by means of relevant calculations of the tax and

national insurance (NIC) savings arising. (9 marks)

SECTION A MINI-LECTURE

Directions: In this section you sill hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.

听力原文： Good morning, everyone. First about your second assignment. I'd like to remind you that your second assignment should be in by next Fri day. You can either put it in my pigeon hole, or leave it with the Department's secretary. Now, let's get down to the lecture.

Today, the lecture is on credit, er, or to be more specific, on credit cards. I'm sure you must have heard of some credit cards, like the VI SA card, which is an internationally used card, or the Great Wall card issued by the Bank of China, In order to give a better understanding, we'll discuss it in some detail.

Many businesses, such as department stores, restaurants, hotels and airline companies, use a credit system for selling their products and services. In a credit system, the seller agrees to sell something to the buyer without immediately receiving cash. He receives the goods or ser vices immediately and promises to pay for them later. This buy-now-pay later credit system is quite old.

There are two types of credit cards. One type is issued directly by a store to a customer. Many large department stores issue credit cards to their customers. The store credit card can be used to make purchases only at a particular store. For example, if you have a credit card from Store A, then you can only buy things in that store. Other stores would not accept it. The other kind of credit card is issued by a credit company. Credit cards from credit companies can be used to buy things almost anywhere. If you have a major credit card, you can buy airplane tickets, stay at hotels and eat at restaurant with it. Most large credit companies are connected to large banks. So if you want a credit card from a credit company, you generally have to make an application at a bank. After an applicant receives a credit card, he or she can make purchases using the

card.

The credit company sends the customer a statement of purchases at the end of each month. Generally the customer has to pay 25--50% of their credit hill every month. The customer pays directly to the credit company and the credit company pays to the store or hotel or restaurant.

There are some advantages and some disadvantages to using credit cards. The biggest advantage for the consumer is expressed by the phrase "buy now, pay later". This means that the consumer can purchase what he wants when he wants it. There is no need to save up money in advance. Another advantage of having a credit card is that it protects the owner, ff a credit card is lost or stolen, the owner only has to call the credit company and the credit company will stop the credit card number. No one else can use it. So the owner doesn't have to worry about losing the card. Another advantage of the credit card system is that the consumer receives a record of his or her purchases. Every month the credit customer receives a bill. The bill has a list of all purchases from that month. This makes it easier to remember when and where purchases are made. And another advantage is that credit cards can be used when something unexpected happens. Many kinds of professional people—plumbers, taxidrivers, doctors and dentists—will accept credit cards in an emergency. This is very important if you don't have any cash with you.

However, having said all that, using credit cards has one major disadvantage. That is, consumers tend to overspend their money. They spend more than they make. If a consumer buys a lot of th

hat this represents a good

investment. In order to raise the funds to buy the property, he wants to extract cash from his personal company, Beezer

Limited, whose year end is 31 December.

Beezer Limited was formed on 1 May 1998 with ￡1,000 of capital issued as 1,000 ￡1 ordinary shares, and traded

until 1 January 2005 when Alasdair sold the trade and related assets. The company’s only asset is cash of

￡120,000. Alasdair wants to extract this cash from the company with the minimum amount of tax payable. He is

considering either, paying himself a dividend of ￡120,000, on 31 March 2006, after which the company would have

no assets and be wound up or, leaving the cash in the company and then liquidating the company. Costs of liquidation

of ￡5,000 would then be incurred.

Since Beezer Limited ceased trading, Alasdair has been taken on as a partner at a marketing firm, Gallus & Co. He

estimates his profit share for the year of assessment 2005/06 will be ￡30,000. He has not made any capital disposals

in the current tax year.

Alasdair wishes to reinvest the cash extracted from Beezer Limited in property but is not sure whether he should invest

directly in residential or commercial property, or do so via some form. of collective investment. He is aware that Gallus

& Co are looking to rent a new warehouse which could be bought for ￡200,000. Alasdair thinks that he may be able

to buy the warehouse himself and lease it to his firm, but only if he can borrow the additional money to buy the

property.

Alasdair has a 25% shareholding in another company, Glaikit Limited, whose year end is 31 March. The remaining

shares in this company are held by his friend, Gill. Alasdair is considering borrowing ￡15,000 from Glaikit Limited

on 1 January 2006. He does not intend to pay any interest on the loan, which is likely to be written off some time

in 2007. Alasdair does not have any connection with Glaikit Limited other than his shareholding.

Required:

(a) Advise Alasdair whether or not a dividend payment will result in a higher after-tax cash sum than the

liquidation of Beezer Limited. Assume that either the dividend would be paid on 31 March 2006 or the

liquidation would take place on 31 March 2006. (9 marks)

Assume that Beezer Limited has always paid corporation tax at or above the small companies rate of 19%

and that the tax rates and allowances for 2004/05 apply throughout this part.

invest in his company,

Vostok Ltd. He also requires advice on the recoverability of input tax relating to the purchase of new premises.

The following information has been obtained from a meeting with Gagarin.

Vostok Ltd:

– An unquoted UK resident company.

– Gagarin owns 100% of the company’s ordinary share capital.

– Has 18 employees.

– Provides computer based services to commercial companies.

– Requires additional funds to finance its expansion.

Funds required by Vostok Ltd:

– Vostok Ltd needs to raise ￡420,000.

– Vostok Ltd will issue 20,000 shares at ￡21 per share on 31 August 2008.

– The new shareholder(s) will own 40% of the company.

– Part of the money raised will contribute towards the purchase of new premises for use by Vostok Ltd.

Gagarin’s initial thoughts:

– The minimum investment will be 5,000 shares and payment will be made in full on subscription.

– Gagarin has a number of wealthy business contacts who may be interested in investing.

– Gagarin has heard that it may be possible to obtain tax relief for up to 60% of the investment via the enterprise

investment scheme.

Wealthy business contacts:

– Are all UK resident higher rate taxpayers.

– May wish to borrow the funds to invest in Vostok Ltd if there is a tax incentive to do so.

New premises:

– Will cost ￡446,500 including value added tax (VAT).

– Will be used in connection with all aspects of Vostok Ltd’s business.

– Will be sold for ￡600,000 plus VAT in six years time.

– Vostok Ltd will waive the VAT exemption on the sale of the building.

The VAT position of Vostok Ltd:

– In the year ending 31 March 2009, 28% of Vostok Ltd’s supplies will be exempt for the purposes of VAT.

– This percentage is expected to reduce over the next few years.

– Irrecoverable input tax due to the company’s partially exempt status exceeds the de minimis limits.

Required:

(a) Prepare notes for Gagarin to use when speaking to potential investors. The notes should include:

(i) The tax incentives immediately available in respect of the amount invested in shares issued in

accordance with the enterprise investment scheme; (5 marks)

A.a guarantee deposit

B.a letter of guarantee issued by a bank

C.a letter of guarantee issued by any financial institution

D.a letter of guarantee issued by a trading company