Based on the article below, tt has always been companies aim to have a favourable receivables turnover ratio. Discuss different strategies that Midas Holdings can implement in order to reduce its receivable turnover in days. (10 marks)

HOT STOCK: MIDAS UP ON S$7.7 MILLION MARRIED DEAL

Wed, JAN 24, 2018 - 11:11 AM

SHARES of Midas Holdings - a maker of aluminium parts used in trains - surged on Wednesday, following a S$7.7 million married deal of some 44 million shares at S$0.175 a piece, two traders told BT. The buyers and sellers remain unknown, the sources said.

The stock rose 1.1 Singapore cents to S$0.171 in early morning trading, or up nearly 7 per cent. More than 200 million shares changed hands as at 11.24am. It was the most actively traded counter on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Wednesday morning. The trading volume on Midas on Wednesday is about five times its average three-month volume.

This follows news earlier this month that Midas' associate company had clinched 2.68 billion yuan (S$552 million) of new contracts. CRRC Nanjing Puzhen Rail Transport Co, in which Midas holds a 32.5 per cent stake, secured the contracts to supply metro train cars in China.

The first contract is worth 1.15 billion yuan, and was awarded by MTR Technology Consultation (Shenzhen) Co for the third phase of the Shenzhen Line 4 project. Delivery is set between February 2019 and September 2020.

The second contract, for the first phase of the Hangzhou Metro Line 6 project, is worth 1.09 billion yuan. The third contract, worth 440 million yuan, is for the Hangzhou-Fuyang Inter-city Metro Project. The second and third contracts were jointly awarded by Hangzou Metro Group Co and Hangzhou Hangfu Rail Transit Co. Both contracts are due between September 2018 and August 2019.

For the three months ended September 2017, Midas reported that revenue rose 11.5 per cent to 458.5 million yuan, and net profit rose 6.6 per cent to 24.1 million yuan.

Trade receivables, however, rose 8.7 per cent to 2.4 billion yuan over the same period, drawing a query from the SGX. In response to the regulator's questions, Midas said that average trade receivables turnover was 268 days as major customers in China have been slow in payment since the railway accidents in 2011.