You are the Chief Finance Officer of LizOil Co. Ltd, a holding company with subsidiaries that have diversified interests. The company’s Board of Directors are interested in acquiring a new subsidiary in the Downstream Petroleum Sector. Two companies have been identified as potentials for the acquisitions: Addin Petroleum and Gyan Petroleum. The following are the summaries of their respective financial statements:

Statement of Profit or Loss for the year ended 30 September 2022

Statement of Financial Position as at 30 September 2022

Required:
a) Calculate the following ratios for each of the two companies: i) Net profit margin ii) Return on year-end capital employed iii) Quick ratio iv) Trade receivables’ collection period (in days) v) Gearing (debt over debt plus equity) vi) Interest cover (9 marks)

b) Write a report to the Chairperson of the board based on a comparable analysis of performance of both companies using the ratios computed in (a) above. (9 marks)
c) State TWO (2) limitations of ratios. (2 marks)