This assignment task is a written report and analysis of the financial performance of a Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (6399.KL) over 5 Years (from 2016-2020) to provide financial advice to a wealthy investor. It will be based on financial reports of a listed company on the Bursa Malaysia . This assignment requires your group to undertake a comprehensive examination of a firms financial performance and must be submitted by 28 November 2021 before 12 midnight via UFuture Platform. The selection of company is based on first come first serve basis and there is no duplication in choosing the firm.

Question: Your group is an investment adviser, working to build a foundation of wealth for your clients. One of your wealthiest clients already has a diversified portfolio, which includes managed funds, property; cash/fixed interest and a few direct share investments in Malaysia and around the world.

The assignment is a written comprehensive report and analysis of the firms financial performance (including referencing).

Your group is required to do the following tasks:

1. Prepare a brief description of the company, outlining the core activities, the market(s) in which it operates within and any factors in the companies history which you consider help present a picture of your company.

2. Specify ownership-governance structure of the company:

• Name the main substantial shareholders:
  • With higher than 20.00% of shareholdings. Based on this argument you should classify a firm as a family or non-family company, and With higher than 5.00% of shareholdings.
• Name the main people involved in the firm governance:
  • The Chairman
  • Board members
  • CEO
  • Whether any of these people have the same surname as any of substantial shareholders (>20% share capital). If yes- you could use this as an argument for the presence of an owner or family member(s) in the firms governance.
  • Whether any of shareholders with more than 5% share capital are involved in firm governance.

3. Calculate the following Fundamental Ratios for your selected company for the past 5 years. Annual reports are accessible via company websites:

• Short term solvency (Liquidity ratios)
• Long term solvency (Financial Leverage ratios)
• Asset utilization (efficiency or turnover ratios)
• Profitability ratios
• Market value ratios

4. Using the information from the Bursa Malaysia or Yahoo Finance website, you must complete the following tasks:

• Prepare a graph / chart for movements in the monthly share price over the last five years for the company that you are investigating. Plot them against movements in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI.
• Write a report which compares movements in the companies share price index to the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI. For instance, how closely correlated is the line with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI. Above or below? More or less volatile?

5. Research via the internet or financial/business publications: From research via the internet (using credible sources) or financial/business publications, note any significant announcements which may have influenced the share price of your company. These factors could include merger activities, divestitures, changes in managements earnings forecasts, changes in analysts forecasts, unusual write-offs or abnormal items, macroeconomic factors, industry wide factors, significant management changes, changes in the focus of the company, impact of competitors or law suits etc. (Restrict the number of announcements to 5).

6. Go online to Yahoo Finance and type in the code for your company into the Search Stocks field and click on the magnifying glass button.

• What is their calculated beta (?) for your company?
• If the risk free rate is 4% and the market risk premium is 6%, use the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) to calculate the required rate of return for the companies shares.
• Is the company you have chosen a conservative investment? Explain your answer.

7. Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)

• Using information from the latest company report for the company (i.e. interest rate on their major source of long-term loans) and the estimated cost of equity capital calculated (in part 6ii above), calculate the WACC for your company.
• Explain the implications that a higher WACC has on managements evaluation on prospective investment projects.

8. Consider the debt ratio for your company over the past 5 years:

• Does it appear to be working towards the maintenance of a preferred optimal capital structure? (i.e., does it appear to be stable?). Explain your answer.
• What have they done to adjust/amend their gearing ratio? Increase or repay borrowings? Issue or buy back shares? Has the Directors Report given any information as to why they have made any adjustments?

9. Dividend policy : Discuss what dividend policy of the management of the company appears to be implemented. Explain any reason related to that particular dividend policy.

10. Based on your analysis above, write a recommendation to your client, providing an explanation as why you would like to include this company in his/her investment portfolio. Please refer to the ratio results calculated earlier and any other trends or factors that you believe to be important.

11. Formal structure and referencing.