Free Cash Flow to Firm (Fcff)

Project 1: Estimating free cash flow to firm (FCFF)

This project is to estimate the free cash flow to firm during the years of both 2010 and 2011 for the industrial firm you have picked up. The free cash flow to firm is computed to be:

After-tax Operating Income

* (Capital Expenditures – Depreciation)

* (Change in Working Capital)

= FCFF

Netting out cash flows to and from debt yields the free cash flow to equity (FCFE).

When you try to figure out the FCFF for your firm, you should answer the following questions at the same time:

1. How would you handle both the operating lease expenses and the R&D expenses?

由於葡萄王是一家以健康食品銷售為主的生技產業公司,研究發展費用占其總資產約2%,相較於其重要設備來說,並不是相當大的比例,再者,研究發展一般失敗機率很高,的確不應當貿然將它列入資產項目中,所以我們這組將R&D仍視為費用。不過我們認為,假如葡萄王的研究發展費用是與合約有關(比如是因為政府或其他機構委託研究),那此部分需列做資產,我們在報告中另外展示了這個結果。

2. Which tax rates would you adapt in computing the tax on the operating income: effective tax rate, marginal tax rate, and actual taxes paid? What happens if your firm is reporting an operating loss and if it operates in several countries with different tax rates?

我們根據國稅局目前所做的規定來課稅,目前稅率是17%,當中並沒有累進稅率的規定(2009之前適用累進稅制,目前則否)。我們認為採用邊際稅率是比較適切的做法,因為它是以每增加的一元會產生多少現金流出的觀點,較能表達出真正會為股東與債權人帶來的影響。另外,計算自由現金流所用的稅金應該扣除遞延所得稅的影響,其屬於非現金項目。

葡萄王在2010積極擴展大陸事業,在香港有營運事業,有關於不同國家的稅率問題,我們認為應該將不同國家的營收分開並分別照當地國家稅制課稅。

假如此公司營收為負,那麼我們認為仍應依照營收為正值時的課稅方式課稅,但結果列為遞延所得稅,非現金項目,應留待未來用以抵減。

3. The conventional definition of working capital is current assets minus current liabilities, and includes cash and market securities in current assets and short-term debt in current liabilities. Should you consider all cash, operating cash, or no cash at all when you compute working capital? Should you consider short-term debt as part of current liabilities?

我們認為考慮只operating cash是比較適合的做法,因為自由現金流量是指企業營運產生的現金流減去再投資及working capital,所剩下要分配給股東與債權人,企業因為未來的營運準備必須留下部分現金,其於的歸類為要分配的部分。

在估計多少比例現金的分配時,由於缺少公司再投資的資訊,我們採用倒敘估計,就是去計算報表中來自股東(分配股利與次發行金額)和來自債權人(再融資與利息分配金額)相關項目,得知當年公司將現金分配出去的金額,推估公司”至少”...