ACCO1079 Financial Analysis and Valuation assignment 2 Brief

Assignment Task

You are required to prepare a detailed equity report for the company that you have already chosen for the first part of the coursework. 

The report should culminate in a valuation that is supported and justified with a detailed analysis and data from the Excel coursework that addresses the following issues:

• Introduction to the company and the aims of the report.
• Strategic appraisal of the company and the industry  (you are required to make use of appropriate strategic models for both the company and the industry).
• Performance of the company and its constituent Segments(if any) as measured by key performance indicators including the breakdown of  ROCE in the light of overall liquidity and solvency of the company.  You should use Competitors as a benchmark to help you evaluate the performance of your company.
• Calculation of the valuation range based on: DCF, asset, multiples (various), dividend yield, and market basis.
• (DCF valuation should be based on the first part of the assignment utilizing the strategic direction identified. A hard copy of the final model to be enclosed in the appendix) Present your valuations in a table.
• Comparison of the valuations based on different models, listing your assumptions and limitations, and providing 
  sound investment advice consistent with the rest of
  the report.

Hints for a Successful Assignment

• You should make sure that you pay attention to the following points when writing your report:
• Use a wide variety of sources including the FT and academic journals and do not rely solely on the company’s own data which is likely to portray a biased view of the company and sector.
• Divide your work according to the percentages given. Do not concentrate on strategy and industry too much as this section accounts for only 15% of the report.
• Ensure you have a good structure including an introduction and a meaningful conclusion. Try to link each section with a paragraph that leads you to the next section.
• Avoid, slang, marketing or journalistic speech. Try to be neutral at all times.
• Adopt a critical approach so that you really understand what makes this a good investment business, what impact do the competitors have? Which parts of your company are successful and which are less so? Throughout ensure that everything you say links back to valuation and either supports or rejects a case for investment in the company.
• Link everything to you say to how your statement would impact the valuation of the company.