- 12 Marks
FM – L2 – Q58 – Discounted Cash Flow
Question
Apex Ltd is considering whether to invest in the purchase of a new machine costing GH¢250,000. The machine will have a four-year life and a net disposal value of GH¢100,000 at the end of Year 4.
In addition, GH¢38,000 of working capital will be required from the start of the project, increasing to GH¢50,000 at the beginning of the second year. All the working capital will be recovered at the end of Year 4.
The project is expected to generate extra annual revenues of GH¢200,000 and incur annual cash operating costs of GH¢80,000 for each year of the project. Apex Ltd’s cost of capital is 10% after tax.
Corporation tax is charged on profits at 35%. Tax is payable in the year following the year in which the profits occur. There will be a 25% annual writing-down allowance on capital expenditure, for tax purposes. The tax-allowable depreciation is calculated by the reducing balance method.
Required
Calculate the NPV of the project and state whether or not it should be undertaken.
Answer
Tax allowances on the investment
| Year of claim | Tax saving (35% of allowance) | Cash flow year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | GH¢250,000 | ||
| 0 | Allowance (25%) | (62,500) | 21,875 |
| 187,500 | |||
| 1 | Allowance (25%) | (46,875) | 16,406 |
| 140,625 | |||
| 2 | Allowance (25%) | (35,156) | 12,305 |
| 105,469 | |||
| 3 | Allowance (25%) | (26,367) | 9,228 |
| 79,102 | |||
| 4 | Disposal | 100,000 | |
| (20,898) | (7,314) |
NPV calculation
| Year | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital equipment | (250,000) | ||||
| Working capital | (38,000) | (12,000) | 50,000 | ||
| Cash profits before tax | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | |
| Tax on profits @35% | (42,000) | (42,000) | (42,000) | ||
| Cash effect of allowances | 21,875 | 16,406 | 12,305 | 2,314 | |
| Net cash flow | (288,000) | 129,875 | 94,406 | 90,305 | 237,228 |
| DCF factor at 10% | 1.000 | 0.909 | 0.826 | 0.751 | 0.683 |
| PV of cash flow | (288,000) | 118,056 | 77,979 | 67,819 | 162,027 |
| NPV | +107,257 |
The NPV is + GH¢107,257. This indicates that the project should be undertaken.
- Topic: Discounted cash flow
- Uploader: Samuel Duah