ICSAN Financial Strategy case studies
ICSAN Financial Strategy · Put your knowledge to work in context.
ICSAN Financial Strategy is the advanced finance paper within the Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria professional programme. It is aimed at candidates who already understand financial accounting and management accounting and now need to make or challenge board-level financial decisions: whether to fund growth from debt or equity, which projects clear a risk-adjusted hurdle, what an acquisition target is worth, and how treasury exposure should be hedged. The ICSAN Financial Strategy case studies are 5 cases and about 3,633 words.
1Halcyon Foods: Capital Rationing with a Strategic Option
Halcyon Foods, a listed European convenience-food producer, has a capital budget of €40 million for the coming year, capped by a covenant limiting net debt to 3.0× EBITDA. Four proposals have been approved in principle: Project A, a chilled-distribution automation programme, outlay €22m, NPV €7.4m at the group's 9% WACC, six-year life; Project B, a plant-based ready-meal line, outlay €16m, NPV €5.0m, four-year life, but its cash flows sit in a new category whose appropriate discount rate is 11%; Project C, a €10m digital traceability system, NPV €2.7m, which can be deferred one year with no loss of strategic value; and Project D, a €6m Gulf export hub, NPV €0.8m, which the commercial director calls a platform for later expansion.
724 words, about 4 min2Meridian Water Utilities: Buyback, WACC and the Regulated Settlement
Meridian Water Utilities plc is a regulated UK water company with market capitalisation £2.4bn and debt of £1.6bn at both book and market value. Equity beta is 0.85, the risk-free rate 4.0%, the market risk premium 5.5%, and the pre-tax cost of debt 5.2% for its BBB rating.
705 words, about 4 min3Kestrel Industrial Group: Valuing Northwind Robotics
Kestrel Industrial Group, a London-listed engineer, trades at £4.10 per share with 120m shares in issue and net debt of £180m. It is evaluating an offer for Northwind Robotics, an unlisted automation specialist owned by its founder.
716 words, about 4 min4Atlantis Marine: Hedging a Conditional Euro Receivable
Atlantis Marine Ltd, a UK boatbuilder with EBITDA of £3.2m, has won a €24m contract to deliver 12 vessels to a Norwegian ferry operator, payable in euros in nine months. Treasury's base case uses EUR/GBP 0.8500.
740 words, about 4 min5Cobalt Engineering: Dividend, Buyback and Working-Capital Trade-offs
Cobalt Engineering plc has £60m cash, £140m debt, EBITDA of £95m and a covenant limiting net debt/EBITDA to 2.5×. It has announced a maintained dividend of 12p on 80m shares and a £25m buyback.
748 words, about 4 min