Appraisal of the Alumasc group

Appraisal of the Alumasc group

Situation

You are a financial analyst who advises clients on companies which they may wish to invest in. One client has asked you to write an appraisal of the Alumasc group. The client has requested information both on the financial performance and position of the group, as well as a commentary on any significant issues facing the business.

As part of your appraisal you should incorporate a ratio analysis which considers Alumasc’s group profitability, liquidity, gearing and efficiency (for example, inventory days, trade receivables days and trade payables days), as well as calculating the group’s operating cycle. You should include a comparative analysis of the results for the year ended 30 June 2015 with the previous year ended 30 June 2014.

Data must be drawn from the Alumasc plc 2015 annual report ONLY and NOT incorporate data from other sources, including the financial press.

Required

Coursework:

  • Individual coursework of 2500 words The main assignment is to be submitted by 3 pm on Friday 11 November 2015 via Turnitin.

Key Marking criteria for coursework Stage 2 includes:

  • Analysis: the group’s performance and position, focusing on profitability, liquidity, gearing and efficiency; conclusions drawn from findings.
  • Structure: objective, professional report which reflects the structure given for the assignment.
  • Presentation: layout, spelling, grammar.
  • Quality of Writing: Readability and ability to convey key message(s) concisely; correct use of formal English.
  • Understanding: Assignment demonstrates students have understood key topics
  • Overall Quality of Assignment

As this is an analyst’s report, academic referencing will not be required. When citing information from the annual report, please ensure that you write in brackets from which page(s) of the 2015 Annual Report you have obtained the information.

Stage 2

You are to write a formal report as detailed above and using the headings set out below:

  1. Brief introduction to the Alumasc group (10 marks)
  2. Markets and products (10 marks)
  3. Growth in the last five years (10 marks)
  4. Analysis of 2015 results (20 marks)
  5. Financing ( 5 marks)
  6. Future Prospects             ( 5 marks)
  7. Financial analysis (20 marks)

Content 80 marks

Your analysis must be written in full sentences as appropriate for a formal report. The use of bullet points will result in marks being deducted. As this is a formal report, there should be no reference to the first person (‘I). Your report should be submitted in ARIAL 12 font, double-spaced.

In section 3, headed ‘Growth in the last five years’, you should refer to the information from the Alumasc 2015 report and accounts on pages 87 – 88.

In section 4, headed ‘Analysis of 2015 results’, you should include an analysis of Alumasc’s group profitability, liquidity and efficiency, including the operating cycle, drawing comparisons between the 2015 and the 2014 results.

In section 5, headed ‘Financing’, your analysis should review the financial structure of the Alumasc group, including gearing.

In section 6, headed ‘Financial analysis’, you should set out all relevant data analyses and calculations upon which your report is based, including ratios on profitability, liquidity, efficiency and gearing, and the calculation of the operating cycle. Please include a note as to how you arrived at your results, including writing out in words any formulae and inserting the appropriate numbers.

 

The mark allocation indicates the time and effort you should put into each section. In addition to the 80 content marks, 20 marks will be available for presentation and research.

  1. Presentation of the report to include layout, presentation, spelling and grammar. To score well you will need to ensure you produce a professional-looking report.  You should also ensure you spell and grammar-check your document prior to submission.

(10 marks)

  1. Effective use of a range of financial analyses to support findings in the report.

(10 marks)

Presentation and research 20 marks

TOTAL 100 marks

The assignment will be marked out of 100, but will be weighted at 30% of the final module mark. The maximum word count for the Coursework is 2500, and this must not be exceeded.

 

FEEDBACK:

Generic feedback will be provided via Blackboard. Individual feedback will be available when the coursework marks are released.

 

In previous years the main reason for poor marks has been students’ failure to address all the requirements of the coursework. Prior to submission of your report please check that you have dealt with all the requirements. If you miss any, you will get zero for that section of the report.

You should use the marks allocated to a requirement to indicate how much of the report should deal with that requirement. In other modules students have provided very long introductions using up significant word count and have then had to make very brief comments in later sections of the report to the detriment of their overall mark.  One of your biggest challenges will be making the report concise enough to cover all the topics within the allowed word count.

Please refer to the module handbook for further information concerning feedback.