1. Smallville Courier is a small town newspaper, with revenues of $200,000 and pre-tax operating income of $40,000. It is considering starting an online edition that would be accessible at no cost to the general public and has collected the following information:
i. The initial cost of setting up the online edition is $25,000. That expense will be capitalized and depreciated using the MACRS three-year schedule (33%, 45%, 15%, 7%). There is no salvage value.
ii. You expect advertising revenues from the site of $30,000 per year.
iii. The annual operating cost of maintaining the online edition will be $15,000.
iv. The cost of capital is 15% and the tax rate is 40%.
v. The project has a life of 5 years.
Should Smallville go ahead with the project?
(Include in your answer the following: What are the annual incremental free cash flows associated with this project? What is the NPV? What is the IRR? What is the payback period?)
2. Wade Natural, a beverage company, is considering expanding into the snack business and you have collected the following information on the investment:
i. You estimate the beta of comparable companies in the snack business to be 0.92.
ii. The equity in Wade Natural has a book value of $ 500 million, but the market value of equity is $2 billion.
iii. The firm has $500 million (in market value terms) in interest-bearing debt with 10 year to maturity. The debt currently trades $900 per bond (Face Value = $1,000) and pays a 4% semi-annual coupon.
iv. The risk-free rate is 4% and the equity risk premium is 5%.
v. The marginal tax rate is 40%.
What is Wade Natural's WACC?