Cardinal Company is considering a five$-$year project that would require a $$2,805,000$ investment in equipment with a useful life of five years and no salvage value. The company's discount rate is $14\%.$ The project would provide net operating income in each of five years as follows:

Sales

Variable expenses

Contribution margin

Fixed expenses:

$$2,741,000$

$1,125,000$

$1,616,000$

Advertising, salaries, and other

fixed out$-$of$-$pocket costs $$642,000$

Depreciation $,$$$561,000$

Total fixed expenses

Net operating income

$[1,203,000],[413,000]$

Click here to view Exhibit $14$B$-1$ and Exhibit $14$B$-2,$ to determine the appropriate discount factor$($s$)$ using table.

$15.$ Assume a postaudit showed that all estimates $($including total sales$)$ were exactly correct except for the variable expense ratio, which actually turned out to be $50\%.$ What was the project's actual simple rate of return? $($Round your answer to $2$ decimal places.$)$

Simple rate of return

$\%$