Average Rate of Return Method, Net Present Value Method, and Analysis for a Service Company

The capital investment committee of Arches Landscaping Company is considering two capital investments. The estimated income from operations and net cash flows from each investment are as follows:

	Front-End Loader					Greenhouse
Year	Income from Operations		Net Cash Flow			Income from Operations		Net Cash Flow
1	$25,000		$ 40,000			$11,250		$ 26,250
2	20,000		35,000			11,250		26,250
3	7,000		22,000			11,250		26,250
4	3,000		18,000			11,250		26,250
5	1,250		16,250			11,250		26,250
	$56,250		$131,250			$56,250		$131,250

Each project requires an investment of $75,000. Straight-line depreciation will be used, and no residual value is expected. The committee has selected a rate of 12% for purposes of the net present value analysis.

Present Value of $1 at Compound Interest
Year	6%	10%	12%	15%	20%
1	0.943	0.909	0.893	0.870	0.833
2	0.890	0.826	0.797	0.756	0.694
3	0.840	0.751	0.712	0.658	0.579
4	0.792	0.683	0.636	0.572	0.482
5	0.747	0.621	0.567	0.497	0.402
6	0.705	0.564	0.507	0.432	0.335
7	0.665	0.513	0.452	0.376	0.279
8	0.627	0.467	0.404	0.327	0.233
9	0.592	0.424	0.361	0.284	0.194
10	0.558	0.386	0.322	0.247	0.162

Required:

1a. Compute the average rate of return for each investment. If required, round your answer to one decimal place.

	Average Rate of Return
Greenhouse	fill in the blank 1%
Front-End Loader	fill in the blank 2%

1b. Compute the net present value for each investment. Use the present value of $1 table above. If required, round to the nearest dollar.

	Front-End Loader	Greenhouse
Present value of net cash flow	$fill in the blank 3	$fill in the blank 4
Amount to be invested	$fill in the blank 5	$fill in the blank 6
Net present value	$fill in the blank 7	$fill in the blank 8

2. Prepare a brief report for the capital investment committee, advising it on the relative merits of the two investments.

The front-end loader has a

greaterlessergreater

net present value because

greaterlessergreater

cash flows occur earlier in time compared to the greenhouse. Thus, if only one of the two projects can be accepted, the

front-end loadergreenhousefront-end loader

would be the more attractive.