Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited is one of Canada's best-known retailers. Obtain a copy of Canadian Tire's financial statements for the year ended January 3, 2015, through SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or on the company's website. To answer the following questions, you may also want to include the 10-year financial review that is produced as supplementary information in the annual report.

Instructions

(a) How significant is Canadian Tire's investment in property, plant, and equipment, including any investment property, compared with its total investment in assets? Compare this with sample companies in other industries, such as financial services (AGF Management Limited), real estate management and development (Brookfield Office Properties Inc.), and technology (Amaya Inc.). Comment.

(b) Calculate Canadian Tire's total asset turnover for fiscal years 2014, 2013, and 2012.

(c) Calculate the company's profit margin for the same three years.

(d) Calculate the company's return on assets for the same three years by using the ratios calculated in (b) and (c) above.

(e) Based on your calculations in (d), suggest ways in which Canadian Tire might increase the return that it earns on its investment in assets.