ABC Co. has the following dividend payment history for the last five years, with the most recent dividend being $3.60.

Dividend

$2.00

$2.50

$2.90

$3.20

$3.60

Historical growth rate estimation

a. What is the compound growth rate of dividends based on the last five years of dividends data? (2 marks)

b. Calculate the year-to-year growth rates in dividends. (2 marks)

c. What is the average year-to-year dividend growth rate? (1 mark)

d. ABC has a retention ratio of 0.75 and a historical return on equity (ROE) of 0.2. Using these two additional pieces of information, calculate an alternative estimate of dividend growth rate, g. (1 mark)

Dividend growth model

e. Given that ABCs share price is currently $65, and the most recent dividend paid is $3.60 per share, use the three growth rates estimated for historical growth (compound growth rate, average year-to-year growth rate, and alternative estimate) to calculate the cost of equity using the dividend growth model. (3 marks)

f. Average the three estimated costs of equity in part (e). (1 mark)

SML model

g. Given that the firms equity beta is 1.6, the risk-free rate is 5%, and the expected return on the market index is 13.5%, calculate its cost of equity using the SML model. (1 mark)

WACC calculation

h. Calculate the firms average cost of equity by averaging the answers in parts (f) and (g). (1 mark)

i. ABCs capital structure contains only debt and equity. Given that its debt-equity ratio is 0.8, its cost of debt is 10%, and its marginal tax rate is 35%, calculate the firms WACC using the cost of equity calculated in part (h). (2 marks)

NPV calculation

j. The firm has a project with an initial cost of $1 million, and annual cash savings of $300,000 for the next five years. The risk adjustment for this project on the WACC is +5%. Calculate the net present value of this project using the WACC calculated above. (4 marks)

k. Should the firm go ahead with the project? (1 mark)