Dell's Working Capital

The company started off producing 20,000 units of mountain bikes. We did not change the production quantity. Last year our forecast sales were 24,000 when we only sold 19,866; therefore we thought it would be best to leave production at 20,000 bikes. Having excess inventory, we concluded that 20,000 units should be enough considering our quality has not changed and our advertising will not increase the sales dramatically. Although we had the choice to produce as much as 30,000 units, we felt as though we did not have sufficient money to increase production. We were interested in allocating the money towards marketing as opposed to production. We realized that without awareness, no matter how many units we make, sales would be inefficient.

The company has been functioning well in terms of generating profit and demand so far. However, there will be a 20% increase in demand for the next month of operations as predicted by management, and the production and supply management's problems may come as a problem they can no longer afford.

b.What are the amounts and timing of the acquisition investment’s free cash flow from 2013 through 2022?

Although the company did show an increased gross profit of $8,255,000 with $6,358,000 less Net Sales in 2013 versus 2012, that increase is due to the reduction in product Cost of Goods Sold by $14,613,000. Since increases in product price will negatively affect sales, one of management’s primary goals is to keep prices stable. This objective is achieved through implementation of cost cutting programs, investing in more efficient equipment, and automation of more steps in the production process.

Assuming the profit margin stays at 5.1% and that operating assets (total assets minus short term investments) maintains at 1996 percentage level of approximately 30% of sales, Dell would require $2,336 million minus $1,555 million, which equals to $779 million.

The income over the last three years has been fluctuating.. This tells us the company has an initial growth period. Sales also drop between years 7 and 8 and the gross profit margin decreased as well. This may be due to operating expenses. This leads to the prospect of stable future sales. The stakeholders are continuing to back the company and the company does predict sales will remain stable. The modest increase in sales does not show enough to recover without making adjustments to free capital.

Inventory turnover – increase of 634.9% at Dell against 202% at Compaq shows the competitive advantage if Dell in managing and maintaining its stocks

2. Forecast the firm’s financial statements for 2002 and 2003. What will be the external financing requirements of the firm in those years? Can the firm repay its loan within a reasonable period? In order to forecast the financial statements of 2002 and 2003, the following assumptions need to be made. The growth of sales is 15%, same as 2001, which is estimated by managers. The rate of production costs and expenses per sales is constant to 50%. Administration and selling expenses is the average of last 4 years. The depreciation is $7.8 million per year, which is calculated by $54.6 million divided by 7 years. Tax rate is 24.5%, which is provided. The dividend is $2 million per year only when the company makes profits. Therefore, we assume that there will be no dividend in 2003. Gross PPE will be $27.3 million (54.6/2) per year. We also assume there is no more long term debt, because any funds need in the case are short term debt, it keeps at $18.2 million. According to the forecast, Star River needs external financing approximately $94 million and $107 million in 2002 and 2003, respectively. In order to analysis if the company can repay the debt, we need to know the interest coverage ratio, current ratio and D/E ratio. The interest coverage ratios through the forecast were 1.23 and 0.87 respectively, which is the danger signal to the managers, because in 2003, the profits even not

iii. Prepare a basic discounted cash flow analysis; i.e. compute incremental cash flows and a terminal value, and discount them at a weighted average cost of capital. Can you do a multiples-type analysis here as well?

Option 2: Decrease Cost of Goods Sold and Expense by 20% due to the current economic climate.

Also, the cost of working capital is not being included; as a result, Trading Profit is not indicating the amount of cash and other current assets being tied up in each particular product line. We think that the opportunity cost of utilizing (tying-up) working capital is not reflected on each individual product lines’ final results, enabling product managers to utilize potentially excessive levels of working capital without poorly affecting their Trading Profit.

(Note: retained earnings information is irrelevant here) Part b. Total market value = debt + pref. equity + Common equity = 1,147,200 + 1,250,000 + 2,500,000 = $4,897,200

In vertical analysis, it is easier to see elements as a percentage of Revenue. Between 2011-12, the portion that cost of sales takes in revenue has increased however, there is a bigger deterioration in distribution cost. In 2011, 9.21% of revenue remains as profit but in 2012 this figure decreases to 8.14%. Despite reduction in costs is one of the strategies of Ted Baker(part 1.4), analysis illustrates that costs increase each year.

a. Assuming the most current operational cost levels, what sales must it generate to recoup the above investment?

Dell set itself apart from the competition by developing a system to better manage its working capital. While competitors focused on forecasting future sales, Dell developed the Build-To-Order model. This allowed for Dell to maintain their inventory cost at a minimum, which in turn lowered their cost of goods sold. Through this process Dell’s Work-In-Process (WIP) inventory and finished goods inventory in relation to present total inventory in the 1990’s was approximately 10% to 20%. This knocks out the competition which stood at about 60%. Dell definitely set itself apart from the competition. Dell made sure to master this process which allowed them to provide a service to