The Risk Associated With Currency Exposure

The goal of this case is to help Sandra Meyer develop a presentation to address Henry Bosse’s concerns about international investments. The general idea is to demonstrate to Henry the benefits of international diversification, if any. To achieve this goal, you need to have a view on 1) the impact of foreign exchange (FX) rates on the return and risk of international investments, and 2) the impact of having more assets on the return and risk of the investment portfolio To form views on these two points, answer the following questions: I. The impact of FX rates on the risk and return of foreign investments 1a) Using data in Appendix A, calculate the

Exchange Rates: The Exchange Rates are other important global factors for which company’s ultimate revenue is affected. For example sudden major change in the Exchange rate of UK with other countries is a great threat or facility for TESCO PLC business.

The exchange rates risk that is associated with economic, transaction, and translation exposure in Indian market. From the analysis, anticipate the fluctuations that seem to occur in the next 24 months

2) Minimize the cost associated with the foreign exchange risk management strategy, i.e. the management and hedging costs

Exchange rate gains or losses are brought to account in determining the net profit or loss in the period in which they arise, as are exchange gains or losses relating to cross currency swap transactions on monetary items. Exchange differences relating to hedges of specific transactions in respect of the cost of inventories or other assets, to the extent that they occur before the date of receipt, are deferred and included in the measurement of the transaction. Exchange differences relating to other hedge transactions are brought to account in determining the net profit or loss in the period in which they arise. Foreign controlled entities are considered self-sustaining. Assets and liabilities are translated by applying the rate ruling at balance date and revenue and expense items are translated at the average rate calculated for the period. Exchange rate differences are taken to the foreign currency translation reserve.

On the other hand, the peso devaluation will not have that much of a positive effect on Farmington (Antilles) N.V. as the peso depreciates relative to the USD. The result is the subsidiary being negatively impacted as the USD/peso exchange rate is rising, as they convert revenue earned in pesos to USD to deposit into U.S. bank accounts. This facility had almost 4 million MXN receivables at the end of the year. The 1994 average exchange rate is 3.5 MXN/USD, where these 4 million MXNs would equate to approximately 1.14 million USD. When the exchange rate values the devalued peso at 5.0 MXN/USD, these 4 million MXNs are only equal to 0.80 million USDs, showing a loss of more than 300,000 USDs. When the exchange rate changes from 4.0 to 5.0 MXN/USD, we can see the loss the company would experience, and thus the negative impact on this facility.

Due to the geographic diversity of countries where BHP Billiton has extended to, the variation of foreign exchange rate obviously plays a crucial role on its financial performance. According to the annual report of BHP Billiton (2015), US dollar is not only the functional currency utilized in majority of sales and transaction, but also the presentation

3. How are multi-currency cash flows, currency risk and political risk being taken into account in our valuation model?

* Currency exposure is the extent to which the future cash flows of an enterprise, arising from domestic and foreign currency denominated transactions involving assets and liabilities, and generating revenues and expenses, are susceptible to variations in foreign currency exchange rates.

Economic exposure is the change in expected cash flows arising because of an unexpected change in exchange rates. Aside from existing obligations of the firm which will be settled in foreign currencies at

Exhibit 7 from the case study describes the currency development in medium term of the GBP and EURO against the dollar. We can observe that the currencies are exposed to high volatility, which means the company may register greater risk

1) What are Aspen Technology’s main exchange rate exposures? How does Aspen Tech’s business strategy give rise to these exposures as well as to the firm’s financing need?

Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss company and owns a prestigious position being the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness group (Nestlé, 2016). According to its annual report (2015), this company is exposed to many risks caused by movements in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rate and market prices. The foreign exchange risk comes from transactions and translations of foreign operations in Swiss Francs (CHF). The interest rate risk faces the borrowings at fixed and variable rates. The market price risk comes from commodity price and equity price. The former risk arises from world commodity market for the supplies of coffee, cocoa beans, sugar and others. The later risk arises from the fluctuations of the prices of investments held. (Nestle annual reports, 2015). Thus, financial derivatives instruments are used by this multinational corporation in order to hedge these risks.

Aspen has become a public company with more risk adverse investors who want to invest in the core business of the firm and not assume any foreign exchange risk. Foreign exchange risk is a core risk to Aspen’s business because they have many customers outside of the United States. We believe that transferring this risk to the customers would limit Aspen’s growth on the foreign markets: Aspen should keep its current marketing strategy, which includes credit installment payments and payments in local currencies for Japan, the UK and Germany. The current risk management program hurts the company because it doesnot consider Aspen’s expenses abroad that balance sales exposures to currency fluctuations. We then recommend that

Based on your answer to question 2, how would Mesa’s cash flows be affected by the expected exchange rate movements? Explain.