Savannah Paterson FINAN Case Questions #5 Toys “R” Us LBO 1. What are the risks and merits of the transaction? This LBO transaction has both risk and profit potential. KKR, Bain, and Vornado Realty Trust face risk because the industry that Toys “R” Us (toys) is currently in, the retail toy industry, is in a decline. Industry sales have been down 4% in the last year, and analysts don’t have a positive projection for future sales in the US. This declining industry, and threat of new competitors such as Walmart and Target, make it hard to be profitable which makes it extremely risky for KKR, Bain, and Vornado. Another factor that needs to be considered when calculating risk, is that this transaction is a club deal, meaning that more …show more content…
At this point, analysts were expecting 0 to 2 percent growth in the retail toy industry over the next three to five years. Toys “R” Us and other incumbent firms in the industry were staring to see increasing competition from discount stores such as Walmart and Target. Toys “R” Us was feeling pressure from the discount stores, however since it was the largest firm in the specialty toy industry, it was better equipped to compete then its rivals. Now that these big discount stores were starting to enter into the industry, it made the retail toy industry highly competitive. Another issue in the industry was that the success of the incumbent firms depended on its ability to identify and follow product trends and demand. If a retailer over or underestimated the demand, it would have significant excess or shortage of inventory leading to lower profits. Also, the industry was greatly effected by consumer spending, and if the economy was slowing, their sales would mirror this trend. Although the industry as a whole was facing declined/ sustained growth, there was one segment in the market that was showing potential growth: the infant, toddler, and preschool market. Since there was an anticipated increase in infant population, and spending per child was raising, experts estimated sales would continue to grow at 3 to 6 percent. The retail toy industry in Europe, however, was not doing as bad. Toy sales in Europe in 2005 grew 3 percent
With the economic downtown, this may affect sales for the company as consumers’ discretionary spending become less and less. Macy’s also faces intense competition which is inherent to the retail and department stores industry.
The purpose of this memo is to document and evaluate the business risks faced by Toy Central Corporation (TCC), as well as audit risks, accounting issues identified, and management assertions affected.
Toys R Us is the world's largest children's specialty retailer. The company operates toy stores throughout the world and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In this paper I will give a brief company history, cite where the competitive environment is coming from, strategies that were attempted, and where they stand today.
3. Do you expect this profit level to continue in subsequent years? Why or why not?
second largest toy market. A “category killer” that enjoyed phenomenal success in the United States
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, the sector has been grown modestly over 2011-12, with sales increasing by 1.5% to $21600 million.
Organizational Hierarchy Structure- Toys R Us was a decentralized organization, which had a leadership type setting from country to country. This type of structure was difficult because all the leaders from different countries were not communicating effectively. The company knew they had to make some changes to the system, if they wanted to be successful. Therefore, after careful consideration, the company decided to move to a more centralized structure. This change was needed to strengthen their business with regards to their compatibility amongst countries and creating a more efficient workplace in the United States and abroad. In the company’s business in Europe, instead of their being different leaders across the continent, there will
Team 2 has researched and completed a comparative analysis of Mattel’s supply chain design and related costs with that of its major competitor Hasbro and the toy industry. What follows, is a brief background of Mattel’s traditional (non-electronic game) sector, its key competitors and Mattel’s use of supply chain management concepts in addressing the competitive landscape to gain a competitive advantage. The global toy and game market grew by 7.2% in 2007 with a value of $106.1 billion and by 2012, is forecasted to have a value of $126.2 billion, an increase of 18.9% over 2007. The toy market is divided into three primary sectors, namely game consoles, game software and traditional toys and games. Traditional toys and
Whalen Court: This project requires an investment of $119.3 million and has an expected NPV of $25.9 million and 9.8% IRR. Even though this project has the highest NPV, it carries an unusually high investment cost of over 119 million so the return on investment is not as favorable as the other projects. In comparison to the prototype store, Whalen Court expects nearly $100 million more in sales, but since the building must be leased the operating costs are also much higher than the prototype at nearly $90 million more. The Whalen Court project will be in an area with 45 Target stores saturating the market, but with a great opportunity for brand visibility and in a large population center, it will only cannibalize 10% of current Target sales in the future. Whalen Court brings concerns regarding its high risk variance. Based on current estimates, this project requires a 1.9% better than expected sales to have an IRR in line with the prototype store. A 10% sales decline is expected to result in an NPV loss of 64% from its base, dropping the IRR below 9%.
growth rate. The first proposal is the Match My Doll Clothing line expansion, which is to expand a
Through studying the entire retail toy industry, we have been able to understand the complexity of the industry in which Toys "R" Us operates. Upon completion of the analysis, we realized that the industry is growing stably,
just building blocks. Due to the different segments that make up the toy industry, buyer power is
This paper researched the fact that the Toys “R” Us Company was displaying a weakness in financial related issues due to the lack of proper strategic planning. This made the company susceptible to many threats in the industry’s competitive environment. The research has shown that its main competitors Walmart, Target, and Amazon are functioning successfully in the industry while Toys R Us heads for bankruptcy. This research emphasizes the fact that Toys R Us has not taken steps to strategize its operations properly which resulted in a loss of revenue and opportunities in their environment. If the company does not take steps to better its strategic planning, the company will not
There can be a number of reasons for a company to go public or private. There are benefits, as well as disadvantages that go along with either course of action (Exhibit 1 for details). When firms decide to go private, they are no longer listed on any stock exchange market. The pressure of keeping accounting regularity and reporting to the public is no longer an issue. Instead, firms can be more flexible to reorganize the business profile as well as the management team. In many cases, shareholders and board members receive very rewarding financial benefits from this transaction. However, in some situations, public firms do not have a choice in the matter, as is the case in a “hostile takeover”.
Conclusion: The entry of Toys “R” Us would shake the traditional Japanese toy business, however the cracks appearing in the retail structure points towards the need for transformation in the Japanese market. Hence Toys “R” Us potentially is a good prospect for the Japanese markets.