Case #9:
HORNIMAN HORTICULTURE
Synopsis and Objectives
This case captures the problems concerning cash flow and working-capital management typical of small, growing businesses. At the end of 2005, Bob and Maggie Brown have completed their third year of operating Horniman Horticulture, a $1-million-revenue woody-shrub nursery in central Virginia. While experiencing booming demand and improving margins, the Browns are puzzled by their plummeting cash balance. The case highlights the difference between cash flow and accounting profits, as well as the common negative effects of growth on cash flow. It also provides a forum for instilling appreciation for the relevance of free cash flow to business owners and managers, introducing
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b. Reduce investment Improve receivable-collection time. Horniman is well above industry norms. One can question the wisdom of growing the small-nursery business, which appears to require generous financing terms. Improve inventory days. This is part of Horniman’s business; it is unclear whether the inventory can be improved, particularly if they are moving to more-mature plants. The analysis to make this trade-off is similar to that of the payables policy. One would divide the expected margin gain by the increase in inventory levels to compute a marginal return on capital. One additional level of concern is the substantial additional risk associated with increasing inventory when facing uncertainty with respect to the effects of interest rates and adverse weather. Reduce investment in net fixed assets. Horniman already seems to be operating efficiently. NFA turnover has increased strongly over the past year; in fact, there is valid concern that capital expenditures are going to need to increase going forward. c. Increase business financing Debt or equity financing. With annual free cash flow reaching levels of −$278,000, the business is burning a lot of cash. One should expect that if nothing is done to the business model, debt requirements will become larger and larger. It is unclear whether Maggie is interested in leveraging the business and risking possible default with an adverse weather event.
HORNIMAN HORTICULTURE Projected
In the past few years, they have experienced a significant increase in inventory days. Not having attractive inventory leads to a decrease in sales and an increase in discounts and write offs leading to further decreases in EBITDA Margins. In 2009, the inventory turnover took 215 days. This is significantly above Le Chateaus competitors, for example Reitman’s inventory took only 72 days (Annual Report 2010). This means it takes Le Chateaus three times as long to sell inventory compared to their competitors. To make matters worse, this trend has been exacerbated in recent years. Le Chateau’s turnover has ballooned to a staggering 341 days while Reitman’s has kept inventory turnover stable at only 76 days.
Receiving the Klemmer & Associates Mustard Seed Scholarship will equip me to use the skills I have learned over the last twenty years to use i a very impactful and powerful way.
Tootsie Roll Industries is one of America’s most recognized confectionary companies and has been in business for more than 111 years, manufacturing and selling some of the most popular candies in the world. Tootsie Roll wants to secure a loan that will help increase the company’s total liabilities by 10% in the tune of $2.5 million. This loan package is attached to an updated business plan that provides the lender with the company’s history, a vision statement, its market, products, services, management, how the loan will impact the business, and the method of repayment. This paper will detail different ratio analyses, loan justification, and how the company plans to use the proceeds.
Finance. In order to finance our startup year, we issued stocks and borrowed loan to finance our operation and for safety in case the sales did not go well. Financing using stocks means that we are selling common or preferred stocks to individuals. In return for the money, they get some ownership over the company and its interest. This helps to bring public’s awareness about the company. If the sales suffice, we will pay the debt in the second round.
2. New bank credit facility, 600 million cash on hand to take advantage of opportunities that may arise
Another risk for Laramie deals with the percentage of inventory it has on hand from 2008 to support the current amount of sales. Laramie’s inventory to sales percentage increased 16.4% from 2007 to 2008. Therefore, this increase shows either that Laramie has trouble keeping inventory accounts down or net sales are slowing relevant to the amount being produced. Also, the increase shows Laramie may have overstated inventories meaning there may be an existence issue. There is a need for further attention to the potential overstatement of inventories because the increase in inventory to sales shows that Laramie is not using its resources efficiently.
After carefully reviewing the income statement, balances sheet and cash flow it seems that the company has a negative cash flow for 1998, so even before thinking about obtaining internal and external resources for long term investment, the company must assure resources for their own working capital.
Sharma and Ryan are planning to share ownership of the business SIGNature Ltd. The business will manufacture plastic road signs for builders, tourist attractions and local councils. It is imperative that the business are continually monitoring and controlling their cash flow if they aim to survive, specifically making sure there are sufficient funds to cover immediate spending. However, SIGNature Ltd. should avoid holding too much cash as this is an unproductive asset, as the business could lose out on the possible profit from investing in the cash. Many businesses produce regular cash flow forecasts, listing all likley receipts (cash inflows) and
As shown in the ratios chart, working capital has increased by $13M. Maturities of short-term investments and cash flow from operations are projected to be sufficient to sustain the company’s overall financing needs, including capital expenditures. The following corporate strategic plan identifies a project that needs financial backing.
The options available for this company involve looking at different inventory models in order to allow this specialist the ability to produce outside high demand windows of opportunity. Initially this company began using the MRP system which enevitably helped to reduce the company’s inventory and at the same time improved their on-time delivery numbers. Currently the process has allowed the Space Age company to maintain a cost of $1.25 per week to store their Gemnini and $1.50 per week to store each of their Saturns that sat in inventory.
The first issue which needs to be addressed is to perform a monthly cash flow analysis for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 1990. Robert & Alex would like to open up their own restaurant/brew pub with $200,000 of their own money and with the use of external financing to finance the rest of the company until excess cash flows remain stable and positive.
Virtually all general managers face capital-budgeting decisions in the course of their careers. Among the most common of these is the either/or choice about a capital investment. The following describes some general guidelines to orient the decision-maker in these situations.
NewGrade’s current free cash flows may be determined by obtaining information about the firm’s earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) minus the change in net working capital minus capital expenditures (Keen, n.d.). This information is provided in Exhibit 5 for the years 2008 through 2025. For example, in 2008, the EBITDA is $180.9 million. Deducting the capital expenditures of $6 million and an arbitrary change in net working capital, which we will use as $18.84 million, the company’s free cash flow for 2008 is $156.06 ($180.9 million - $6 million - $18.84 million).
free cash flow over the last eighteen months and our concomitant success in reducing the use of our line of
Working Capital is defined as “a measure of both a company 's efficiency and its short-term financial health. (Investopedia, 2016.)” Having an efficient working capital can make or break a business’s success. To expand on our experience with working capital, we ran the Harvard Business Publication Working Capital Simulation. In our simulation, we are co-owners of Sunflower Nutraceuticals (SNC), “an internet-based, direct-to-consumer distributor and retailer of dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, and herbs for women (Harvard Business Publication, 2014.)”, looking to create more working capital for the company so Sunflower Nutraceuticals can expand. We were told that SNC is breaking even with a flat annual sales growth on total revenues of $10 million. The company has struggled to finance the payroll, and more than once overdrawn on the line of credit in the past. SNC keeps the minimum amount of cash on hand ($300,000) to meet its operational needs. A national bank, Miami Dade Merchant 's Bank (MDM), has issued a line of credit with restrictive covenants; credit limit of $3,200,000, and rate of 8%. We were also provided with a forecast of the global nutraceuticals market. In 2010 the market worth was approximately $128.6 billion and forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.9% and reach $180.1 billion by 2017 (Harvard Business Publication, 2014.). After being given all of this information, it was up to us to make