Business finance Samples

Table of Contents

Introduction. 3

  1. Description of the company. 3
  2. Calculation and analysis of financial ratios. 4

2.1 Liquidity ratio. 4

Current ratio. 4

Acid test ratio. 5

Fixed asset turnover 5

2.2 Profitability ratio. 6

Net profit margin. 6

Return on capital employed. 6

Gross profit margin. 7

2.3. Market value ratio. 7

Dividend payout ratio. 7

  1. Graphs and comparison of share price movements. 8
  2. Calculation cost of equity. 10
  3. Identify the capital structure. 10
  4. Conclusion and recommendation. 12

Reference list 14

Introduction

This assignment is based on JB Hi Fi Australia to analyse their financial position. In first part an analysis will be carried on based on the operations of JB Hi Fi and their competitive advantage over other competitors in the market. In the next part an analysis of the company perforce based on liquidity ratio, profitability ratio and capital structure ratio will be done. This will provide an idea about the overall financial performance of the company. Calculations will be based on two years performance of the company. In next part information from ASX list (ASX: JBH) will be used to determine the changes in share prices of the company over the recent months. This information will be used later to prepare a graph.

1. Description of the company

JB Hi Fi is an Australia-based retail business specializing mainly in video games, HD Blu ray CD, DVD and other electrical appliances. Moreover, they sell home appliances which also include mobile phones in retail form. JB Hi Fi has been listed in ASX list of publicly traded companies (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2019). JB Hi Fi has set up its headquarters at Melbourne Chadstone shopping centre. JB Hi Fi expanded their operations in New Zealand in the financial year 2006-07. JB Hi Fi dates back to 1974 when it was set up by John Barbuto in a suburb of Melbourne. In the year 1983 the company was sold to three partners namely, Richard Bouris, David Rodd and Peter Caserta who were responsible for expanding the business and making it relevant. They expanded JB Hi Fi and made it into a chain of ten stores in Melbourne and parts of Sydney. Company was valued at $150 million by the year 2000 (Henderson et al., 2015).

It was in the year 2003 that company gained its position in ASX list of publicly traded company. JB Hi Fi made a remarkable breakthrough when all other music companies were generating loss in the financial year 2013 and 2014; JB Hi Fi increased its profit by almost 26%. JB Hi Fi started as a music CD selling company which later expanded its business with changing time and now it is one of the biggest retailers in Australia. Company sells a range of electronic products which includes television sets, HD bluray CD, video games, mobile phones, digital camera and other home related application across all its chain stores in Australia. From 2012 JB Hi also expanded its business into items of musical interest such as guitars, and other musical instruments. This made their profits to rise up by a substantial percentage (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2019).

Following are a list of competitive advantages of JB Hi Fi:

  1. JB Hi Fi is one of the largest retailers of Australia and New Zealand which offers a range of products with better pricing strategy and also applies great discounts (Macve, 2015).
  2. Due to high sale and better turnover JB Hi Fi is able to place attractive pricing strategy and also offer new discount scheme every day. This helps JB Hi Fi to retain its consumers and also satisfy their pricing needs.
  3. JB Hi Fi has made a good reputation for itself which allows it to attract better consumers in comparison to its competitors. They offer great deals with exclusive prices and this makes consumers very satisfied.
  4. JB Hi Fi has made a very distinctive name of itself and it has a greater brand value then most of the retailers of Australia.
  5. Stores of JB Hi Fi are very well made and has better per square sales in comparison to many other competitors operating locally. This allows them to achieve better sales revenue in comparison to many other local retailers.
  6. Customers of JB Hi Fi are loyal and they prefer to shop in this store only due to their attractive pricing strategies. This makes their customer base very sting and also their retention is very good. This makes their companies strategically in a better position.
  7. They also have online sales which further expand their operations and revenues as a result of that.

2. Calculation and analysis of financial ratios

2.1 Liquidity ratio

Current ratio

CURRENT RATIO
Year Formula Current asset Current liabilities Results
2017 Current ratio= Current assets/current liabilities 1167.5 885.4 1.318613
2018 Current ratio= Current assets/current liabilities 1210.5 917.2 1.319778

Table 1: Current ratio

(Source: Created by learner)

Acid test ratio

ACID TEST RATIO
Year Formula Current assets Inventory Current liabilities Results
2017 Quick ratio= Current assets-inventory/current liabilities 1167.5 859.7 885.4 1166.529
2018 Quick ratio= Current assets-inventory/current liabilities 1210.5 891.1 917.2 1209.528

Table 2: Acid test ratio

(Source: Created by learner)

Fixed asset turnover

FIXED ASSET TURNOVER
Year formula Turnover Non-current Asset Results
2017 Fixed asset turnover=Turnover/Non-current assets 5628 1292.3 4.355025923
2018 Fixed asset turnover=Turnover/Non-current assets 6854.3 1281.2 5.349906338

Table 3: Fixed asset turnover

(Source: Created by learner)

Calculation of liquidity ratio of JB Hi Fi implies that company is fairly liquid and is in good position in comparison to previous year (Maskell, Baggaley and Grasso, 2016). In 2018 there has been a constant rise in every ratio caption. Current ratio implies that JB Hi Fi will be able to meet its short term debts within that year itself in relation to their assets. Increase in current ratio from 2017 to 2018 indicates that company is managing its inventory efficiently. Acid test ratio calculation indicates that company can settle its short term debts within the current year without having to sell its inventory. Fixed asset turnover shows that company will be able to settle its debt using its fixed asset. This indicates that company is fairly liquid and its performance is increasing over the previous years.

2.2 Profitability ratio

Net profit margin

NET PROFIT MARGIN
Year Formula Net profit/loss before tax Sales Results
2017 Net profit margin= Net profit before tax/Sales*100 259.2 5628 188.8273
2018 Net profit margin= Net profit before tax/Sales*100 334.5 6854.3 200.0861

Table 4: Net profit margin

(Source: Created by learner)

Return on capital employed

Year Formula Total asset Current liabilities Results
2017 Employed capital= Total asset-current liabilities 2459.8 885.4 1574.4
2018 Employed capital= Total asset-current liabilities 2491.7 917.2 1574.5

Table 5: Employed capital

(Source: Created by learner)

RETURN ON CAPITAL EMPLOYED
Year Formula Net operating profit Employed capital results
2017 ROCE= Net operating profit/Employed capital 306.3 1574.4 0.19455
2018 ROCE= Net operating profit/Employed capital 350.6 1574.5 0.222674

Table 6: Return on capital employed

(Source: Created by learner)

Gross profit margin

GROSS PROFIT MARGIN
Year Formula Gross profit Revenue Result
2017 Gross profit/revenue*100 1230.5 5628 21.86389
2018 Gross profit/revenue*100 1470.2 6854.3 21.44931

Table 7: Gross profit margin

(Source: Created by learner)

Company is profitable and there are not many discrepancies in performance of company. JB Hi Fi is making profits over the years as denoted by the relevant calculation of profitability ratios. From results of net profit margin it has been found out that company has increased its performance from 2017 to 2018 slightly (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2017). There has not been much rise in overall profitability of the company. Return on capital employed has improved in 2018 in comparison to 2017. This indicated that company has been successful in making its operations using their capital in a very profitable manner. There is a slight decrease in gross profit margin which indicated that cost of sales has increased slightly in 2018 in comparison to 2017.

2.3. Market value ratio

Dividend payout ratio

DIVIDEND PAYOUT RATIO
Year Formula Declared dividend Net income Results
2017  Dividend payout ratio = Declared dividends/Net income 118 207.7 0.568127
2018  Dividend payout ratio = Declared dividends/Net income 132 233.2 0.566038

Table 8: Dividend payout ratio

(Source: Created by learner)

Dividend payout ratio is a financial tool used to determine the market value of a company. In case of JB Hi FI it has been found that company has slightly decreased its payout ratio (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2018). Company needs to focus on better methods to apply their capital in order to generate better revenue and that will result in better dividend for the shareholders.

3. Graphs and comparison of share price movements

Figure 1: Share price graph of two years

(Source: Asx.com.au, 2019)

JB Hi Fi has seen a lot of fluctuations in last two years. Price of share does not remain stable and this is evident from the graph displayed above. There are lot of fluctuations in the share prices of JB Hi Fi. This is avoided due to fluctuation in share market where new entrants also turn in. From the graph displayed above it has been noticed that in the year 2017 January the company has the highest share price in this two years combines. Share prices reached a staggering $29 in that period. During June, July and August of 2018, company saw the last share prices in two years combined. Share prices dropped to $20.38 during that period which again rise to some degree and again dropped during that period itself. It was the lowest among the entire months ion these two years period.

From August to September the share prices rose again from $22.370 to $23.470 and again to $26.170 by last of August. There was a slight decline in share price in august but this again went table in September. During October there was again a small decline in share prices (Investsmart.com.au, 2019). During October the share price was $24.310 and saw some fluctuations during the month but was stabilized again by the end of November. Overall 2017 and 2018 were quite profitable as share price was $26 on an average (Asx.com.au, 2019). During the end of the period there were some discrepancies as share prices started to drop to $24 at the end of December of 2018. There are many reasons for dropping of share prices. There are lot of instances where share prices rise and fall very fast and this is caused by a number of reasons. Some of this reason has been discussed below:

  1. Demand of shares is a main reason for fluctuation in share prices over the years. In some instances a company sells more shares than what is demanded. such situations cause share prices to drop. In the other hand in some instances there are huge demand for shares built shareholders are not willing to sell the shares in market,. Such situations cause share prices to increase in share market. This is the main reason of share price fluctuation over different months (Bolek and Grosicki, 2015).
  2. In some cases underwriter of shares buys shares themselves. This is done to create better demand to sell the shares at a higher price than what they aimed. This is unethical but this is quite common and a main reason for increase the demand of shares and ultimately raises the price of shares. This causes monthly fluctuations in price of shares.
  3. In some cases the buying of shares by major investors also increase interest of general public and other companies in shares of another company (Floyd, Li and Skinner, 2015).
  4. Financial status of a company also has a deep influence in fluctuation of price of shares of that company. In case a company is becoming profitable over time and is producing good results it will attract more shareholders. Moreover, the price of share will be more due to higher demand by prospective investors of the company. This makes the price of shares to increase (Karbasi Yazdi and Mohammadian, 2017).
  5. Directors of a company also play a very crucial role in fluctuation of share prices. In case a company appoints a very renowned director for their company the investors become very interested. this is due to the previous exploits of that director which increased their share prices. In case a good director resigns the investors become uninterested and hence shares are not sold as per expectation and this also makes their share prices to drop (Sahu and Pillai, 2017).

4. Calculation cost of equity

Beta (ß) of JB Hi Fi (JBH) is 0.39

Risk free rate (Rf) of JBH is 6% or 0.06

Market risk premium (Rm) is 7% or 0.07

After taking all these information into consideration, following calculation has been performed:

Cost of equity (Re) = Rf + ß* (Rm- Rf)

Cost of equity (Re)= 0.06+ 0.39*(0.07-0.06)

Cost of equity (Re)= 0.06+ 0.0039

Cost of equity (Re)= 0.0639

Hence, required rate of return is 6.39%.

Cost of equity is the rate of return that shareholders seek out of their investment in the market share of a company. This cost of equity represents the compensation paid to the market for bearing the risk of owning asset and the company operations (Reuters.com, 2019). This rate is important to satisfy the investors investing their shares in a company. It is necessary to produce a satisfactory rate of return to make the investors stay and not sell their shares in the market. If shareholders sell their shares in the market it will reduce the capital as well as value of share in the market. In this case of JB Hi Fi, they must pay their shareholders back at the rate of 6.39%. This is a satisfactory rate and their investors will be satisfied with this rate of return.

5. Identify the capital structure

Capital structure is a process by which a company makes use of different sources of funds in order to manage its operations and generate revenue for itself. Capital structure consists of mainly debts and other equity shareholders fund in order to understand the portion of funds and its sources. This is the lifeblood of any business as this provides funds for running a business successfully. In case of JB Hi Fi the capital structure is pretty simple as they have raised funds mainly from shareholders equity (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2018). Capital structure of JB Hi Fi displays a total debt of $469,400 while interests amounted to $16,600. Their long term debt amounts to $469,400 which makes their debts percentage to be 33% (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2018).

JB Hi Fi does not make use of preference stocks and their share amounts to $947,600 which is the highest proportion of amount out of all the capital sources. Equity percentage is 67% making a higher proportion in comparison to debt. In order to understand their capital structure better a calculation of capital gearing ratio and debt to equity ratio has been provided below:

CAPITAL GEARING RATIO
Year Formula Long term borrowings Shareholder fund Results
2017 Gearing ratio= long term borrowing/long term borrowing +shareholder fund*100 558.8 853.5 65.47158758
2018 Gearing ratio= long term borrowing/long term borrowing +shareholder fund*100 469.4 947.6 49.53566906

Table 9: Capital gearing ratio

(Source: Created by learner)

Capital gearing ratio is the proportion of company’s dependence on debt capital and equity capital. A higher percentage denotes that company is more dependent on debt financing for their operations. On the other hand am lower percentage denotes that company is more interested in shareholders’ funds for their operations (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2018). From the calculation provided above it is very clear that company depended more on debt financing in the year 2017. However, they managed to improve their operations and hence in the year 2018 their dependence on debt was reduced and they relied more upon shareholders equity for their operations. A larger portion of capital structure in debt financing means that company will not be able to sustain its debt in case of any shortcomings in financial operations. There is certain risk associated with this kind of capital structure where debt is utilized more in comparison to equity (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2018).

DEBT TO EQUITY RATIO
Year Formula Short Term Debt Long Term Debt Shareholder Equity Results
2016 Short term debt +long term debt/shareholder equity 0 558.8 853.5 0.65471
2017 Short term debt +long term debt/shareholder equity 0 469.4 947.6 0.49535

Table 10: Debt to equity ratio

(Source: Created by learner)

Debt to equity ratio is same as capital gearing ratio just the difference is that here short term borrowing are also considered. In case of JB Hi Fi, there is no short term borrowing hence the results are pretty much same as that of capital gearing ratio. These results show that company was more dependent on debt financing during the financial year 2017. Ion the other hand, in the year 2018 company depended more on their equity shareholders funds. Therefore, company is improving over time and in 2018 it is quite profitable as well as managing their capital effectively (Investors.jbhifi.com.au, 2018).

6. Conclusion and recommendation

From this assignment it can be concluded that JB Hi FI limited is a profitable company and is very liquidity. They are one of the largest retailers who rely both on online as well as offline sales. There are some changes in their operations which has b\to be done in order to take their performance better. JB Hi FI limited depends on their shareholders equity as their primary source of finance. In 2017 relied heavily on debt financing which is a volatile situation for their company. They made huge improvements in their operations by managing their origination better and dealing mostly on shareholder funds. They gain better shareholders due to their satisfactory level of rate of return on investment of shareholder. Their rate of return was estimated to be 6.39%. Following are some of the recommendation for JB Hi Fi limited:

  1. JB Hi Fi should make more investments in order to generate better revenue. This will attract better investors and share prices will improve. In the last half of 2018 the share prices has started to decline and this needs to be improved.
  2. JB Hi Fi can make better rate of return to their shareholders as they are very moderate. In order to retain their investors, company needs to make better usage of their funds in order to generate better revenue. This will ultimately be distributed to shareholders as higher revenue. This higher rate of return will make the inventory stay loyal to their organization.
  3. JB Hi Fi must try to reduce their cost of sales as their gross profit has started to decline from 2017 to 2018.

Reference list

Books

Henderson, S., Peirson, G., Herbohn, K. and Howieson, B., 2015. Issues in financial accounting. London: Pearson Higher Education AU.

Macve, R., 2015. A Conceptual Framework for Financial Accounting and Reporting: Vision, Tool, Or Threat?. Abingdon: Routledge.

Maskell, B.H., Baggaley, B. and Grasso, L., 2016. Practical lean accounting: a proven system for measuring and managing the lean enterprise. Abingdon: Productivity Press.

Journals

Bolek, M. and Grosicki, B., 2015. How to evaluate financial liquidity of a company using the discriminant analysis. European Scientific Journal, ESJ11(1). pp.86-99.

Floyd, E., Li, N. and Skinner, D.J., 2015. Payout policy through the financial crisis: The growth of repurchases and the resilience of dividends. Journal of Financial Economics118(2), pp.299-316.

Karbasi Yazdi, H. and Mohammadian, M., 2017. Effect of Profitability Indices on the Capital Structure of Listed Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. Advances in Mathematical Finance and Applications2(3), pp.1-11.

Sahu, A. and Pillai, S., 2017. Impact of liquidity ratios on profitability (a case study of acc ltd Company). Asian Journal of Multidimensional Research (AJMR)6(12), pp.83-95.

Websites

Investsmart.com.au 2019, Company Financials – JB Hi-Fi Limited (JBH), viewed on 10/1/19 <https://www.investsmart.com.au/shares/asx-jbh/jb-hi-fi-limited/financials>

Reuters.com 2019, JB Hi-Fi Ltd (JBH.AX), Viewed on 10/1/19 <https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview/JBH.AX>

Asx.com.au 2019, Prices and research, Viewed on 10/1/19 <https://www.asx.com.au/prices/charting/?code=JBH&compareCode=&chartType=&priceMovingAverage1=&priceMovingAverage2=&volumeIndicator=&volumeMovingAverage=&timeframe=>

Investors.jbhifi.com.au 2017, Annual report 2017, viewed on 10/1/19 <https://investors.jbhifi.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Annual-Report-2017.pdf>

Investors.jbhifi.com.au 2018, About us, viewed on 10/1/19 < https://investors.jbhifi.com.au/jb-hi-fi-group/>

Investors.jbhifi.com.au 2018, Annual report 2017, viewed on 10/1/19 <https://investors.jbhifi.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Annual-Report-2018-with-Chairmans-CEOs-Report.pdf

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