To: The Board of Directors of Coast4Life
From: Pat Brown
Re: Strategic issues and Recommendation
Date: January 18, 2013
Please find the attached report addressing the key strategic issues, analysis and recommendation.
Sincerely,
Pat Brown
Controller
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to address the key strategic issues facing Coast4Life with the expected downturn ahead. Included is a financial analysis, identification of major issues, analysis of alternatives and a recommendation.
Financial Analysis for the Year Ended 2012 (Appendix 1) * Current ratio of 1.6 indicates that the company can meet its short term obligations. There is a 46% improvement versus last year’s current ratio of 1.1. Quick ratio
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It maximizes profitability and provides opportunities to expand business ( in line with the company’s mission).
Alternative 2 – Implement a web-based booking system
Pros:
* Incremental savings of $24K in 2013; $226K for the 3-yrs ahead combined (Appendix 4) * Opportunity for additional costs reduction (i.e. advertising, promotion) * Provides information about passengers * Opportunity to target more customers * Meets demand for Internet-booking * Accounting module improves financial reporting
Cons:
* Loss of customer service * Technology must be up to date and well maintained * Security (i.e. financial data, customers)
This option meets the cost savings requirement. It also addresses the immediate need of the company for market/customer information and addresses constraints in alternative 1 (customer mix). This is in line with the company’s mission to provide unique services.
Alternative 3 – Hire Crew and Hospitality Workers from Underdeveloped Countries
Pros:
* Incremental cost savings of $883K; $2.1M for the 3 years ahead combined (Appendix 5) * Cheaper wages
Cons:
* May damage reputation (poor service quality) * May dampen employees’ morale
This alternative meets the requirement for cost savings. To ensure quality service, the company must invest in training. The company should also keep key employees (pros: assists in training, promotion
The projected costs in the last six months of 2004 (column 4) are calculated by subtracting the actual costs for the first five months of 2004 (column 2) from 2004’s projected total costs (column 3). This gives us the projected costs for the last seven months of 2004. However, we are only interested in the last six months of 2004, so
12. Describe an alternative investment that you might invest in someday, and explain why this investment is appealing to you. (2-4 sentences. 2.0 points) Peer-to-peer lending. It's a high return investment but also high risk. There are ways to invest in Peer-to-peer to minimize risk. It's a great alternative investment option.
What is the net present value of this follow-up investment and the combined base and expansion investments?
The focus of EEC’s investment of the purchasing of the supplier is to cut down on
Our approach is an active security selection with passive asset allocation. We invest heavily in common stocks, but vary our holdings to include companies of all sizes and industry groups. We seek to achieve sufficient diversification by abstaining from investing more than 5% of the total assets in a single security unless it has significant upside potential, and we make an exception for ETFs and index funds as they represent a basket of securities. Our main goal is to identify and invest in common stocks with high potential for both short- and long-term capital appreciation. Our secondary goal is to invest in common stocks with steady income. When potential for rewards are high, we also enter into derivative
Estimates of fixed costs are reasonably straightforward and are given in the case (p.280), a total of $250,000 ($160,000+$90,000).
c) Total savings associated with staff reductions ($270,000 per year) – The total savings associated with staff reductions can be considered in the evaluation of this new project because the new software system will enable CCC to reduce its number of employees.
Submitting a RIF to Jeremy Dabney, Beth Harding and *Brian and our would save us $209.639 annually
This ratio is similar to current ratio, except that it excludes inventory from current assets. Inventory is subtracted because it is considered to be less liquid than other current assets, that is, it cannot be easily used to pay for the company’s current liabilities. A company having a quick ratio of at least 1.0, is considered to be financially stable. It has sufficient liquid assets and hence, it will be able to pay back its debts easily (Qasim Saleem et al., 2011).
* Anticipated savings are to be in the order of 8 to 10 percent of total expenses, approximately 1.1millon
Current Ratio is the measure of short-term liquidity. It indicates that the ability of an entity to meet its
Addressing the needs of its employees. Meeting the needs of the employees and maintaining a profit margin.
The quick ratio reflects on a company’s ability to meet its current liabilities without liquidating inventories that could require markdowns. It is a more stringent test of liquidity than the current ratio and may provide more insight into company liquidity in some cases. For Colgate-Palmolive, the quick ratio has declined from 0.73 in 2008 to 0.58 in 2010. While this does not necessarily mean a problem, a higher current ratio and quick ratio analysis will mean that the company will not have difficulty in meeting its short-term obligations from its operations and not by liquidating its assets.
The company aims at improving their sales to ensure that there is a high return on the investment and maximize the profits that the company targets to accomplish.
The quick ratio of 1.46 is a further analysis into the actual monetary values that are highly liquid and excluding fixed assets as part of the assets. The CFO/Avg. current liabilities also show a healthy 73%, 28% in 2004, on average of which is still higher than the industry.