Rare Agri$-$Products Ltd$.$ is considering a new project with a projected life of seven $(7)$ years. The project falls under the government's subsidy program for encouraging local agricultural products and is eligible for a one$-$time rebate of $25\%$ on any initial equipment installed for the project. The initial equipment $($IE$)$ will cost $$41,000,000.$ At the end of year $1,$ An additional equipment $($AE$)$ costing $$3,500,000$ will be needed at the end of year $3.$ At the end of seven $(7)$ years, the original equipment, IE$,$ will have no resale value but the supplementary equipment, AE$,$ can be sold for $$50,000.$ A working capital of $$1,350,000$ will be needed.

The project is forecast to generate sales of agri$-$products over the seven years as follows:

Year $1-70,000$ units

Year $2-100,000$ units

Years $3-5-250,000$ units

Years $6-7-325,000$ units

A sale price of $$150$ per unit for the first two years is expected and then decline to $$90$ per unit thereafter as the newness of the product loses some sheen. The variable expenses will amount to $30\%$ of sales revenue. Fixed cash operating expenses will amount to $$1,100,000$ per year. The company falls in the $25\%$ tax category for ordinary income and $40\%$ tax category for capital gain.

The initial equipment is depreciated as per the $7-$year MACRS system and the additional equipment is depreciated on a straight$-$line basis. In the event of a negative taxable income, the tax is computed as usual and is reported as a negative number, indicating a reduction in loss after tax.

The initial financing of the project will be carried out as follows:$-55\%$ equity and $45\%$ debt. The company paid $$1\mathrm{.}50$ per share in the form of dividend this year, which is likely to increase at a rate of $3\%$ per year for the near future. The current price of the company's stock is $$9\mathrm{.}50$ per share. The bank loan is likely to be arranged at an interest rate of $13\mathrm{.}5\%$ p$.$a$.$

You are required to:

$1.$ Compute the appropriate rate for discounting the cash flows of the project $-5$ marks

$2.$ Compute the initial investment required $-4$ marks

$3.$ Compute the earnings before taxes for years $1$ through $7-5$ marks

$4.$ Compute the earnings after taxes for years $1$ through $7-1$ mark

$5.$ Compute the OCF for years $1$ through $7-1$ mark

$6.$ Compute the Terminal cash flow $-3$ marks

$7.$ Compute the FCF for years $1$ through $7-1$ mark

$8.$ Compute the NPV and IRR $-4$ marks

$9.$ Should the project be accepted? $-1$ mark