You are hired as an external consultant to carry out the following analyses and produce a report. Your assigned company is NewCrest Mining (NCM). The company is categorised as Materials under the GICS ASX Sector. Your task is to review the company capital structure decisions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. You may assume that the impact of the pandemic began in March, 2020. You are required to identify three peer companies for comparison analysis. The peer companies may be chosen using the Peer Firms worksheet in companies.xlsx [see image below]. 1. Compare the capital structure trends of your assigned company and the three peer companies in the fiscal years ending in 2015 through 2019. Discuss these trends using the capital structure theories under the topics "Capital Structure in a Perfect Market. Debt and Taxes." and "Financial Distress, Managerial Incentives, and Information." (8 marks)
NB: We are not given any data other than the Peer Firms worksheet (the cells not shown in the image are firms from different sectors). We are required to find the values of the years to compare trends by ourselves. Hope that clarifies any confusion! 
B1 16-SEP-2021 A D E F G H B 16-SEP-2021 1 Date of Data: E F G H A 3 Firm Name GICS ASX Sector Market Capitalization (USD million) Market Capitalization (AUD million) 4 1 5 Southern Cross Media Group Limited Communication Services S413.35 $566.29 D 203 Afterpay Limited Information Technology $26.009.09 $35,632.45 204 MACA Limited Materials $198.92 $272.52 205 Red 5 Limited Materials $308.97 $423.29 206 Jupiter Mines Limited Materials $313.60 $429 63 207 Aurelia Metals Limited Materials $318.95 $436.97 208 Alkane Resources Ltd Materials $350.92 $480.76 209 Resolute Mining Limited Materials $357.45 $489.70 210 Mount Gibson Iron Limited Materials $409.89 $561.55 211 Perenti Global Limited Materials $471,48 $645.93 212 Bellevue Gold Limited Materials $517.18 $708.53 213 Westgold Resources Ltd Materials $550.62 $754.35 214 Capricorn Metals Ltd Materials $573.17 $785.25 215 West African Resources Ltd Materials $649.06 $889.22 216 Imdex Ltd Materials $677.92 $928.76 217 Western Areas Limited Materials $718.51 $984.36 218 St. Barbara Ltd. Materials $775.37 $1,062.25 219 ioneer Limited Materials $828.07 $1,134.46 220 Sandfire Resources Limited Materials $834.00 $1,142.58 221 Ramelius Resources Limited Materials $879.59 $1,205.04 222 Gold Road Resources Ltd Materials $897.36 $1,229.39 223 Silver Lake Resources Limited Materials $898.07 $1,230.36 224 De Grey Mining Ltd Materials $994.00 $1,361.78 225 Pact Group Holdings Ltd. Materials $1,016.25 $1,392 26 226 Regis Resources Limited Materials $1,179.81 $1,616.35 227 Nufarm Limited Materials $1,224.13 $1,677.06 228 Perseus Mining Limited Materials $1,410.04 $1,931.76 229 Deterra Royalties Ltd Materials $1,484.42 $2.033.66 230 ADBRI Limited Materials $1,695.34 $2.322.61 231 Coronado Global Resources Inc. Shs Chess Depository Interests Rep Materials $1,695.62 $2,323.00 232 Chalice Mining Limited Materials $1,929.67 $2,643.65 233 Champion Iron Ltd Materials $1,971.44 $2.700.87 234 Sims Ltd. Materials $2,000.18 $2.740.25 235 Nickel Mines Ltd. Materials $2,031.37 $2.782.97 236 Orora Ltd. Materials $2,083.89 $2,854.93 237 CSR Limited Materials $2,105.01 $2,883.86 238 Orocobre Limited Materials $2,349.00 $3,218.13 239 Brickworks Ltd Materials $2,839.24 $3,889.76 240 Iluka Resources Limited Materials $3,183.00 $4,360.71 241 SSR Mining Inc Shs Chess Depository Interests repr 1 shs Materials $3,462.58 $4,743.73 242 Orica Limited Materials $3,694.67 $5,061.70 243 Incitec Pivot Limited Materials $4,056.06 $5,556.80 244 Alumina Limited Materials $4,495.76 $6,159.19 245 Evolution Mining Limited Materials $4,873.78 $6,677.08 246 Pilbara Minerals Limited Materials $4,915.00 $6,733.56 247 Lynas Rare Earths Limited Materials $5,088.00 $6,970.56 248 Boral Limited Materials $5.140.04 $7,041.85 249 IGO Limited Materials $5,321.83 $7,290.90 250 OZ Minerals Limited Materials $5,860.33 $8,028.65 251 Mineral Resources Limited Materials $7,225.20 $9,898.53 252 Northern Star Resources Ltd Materials $8,077.02 $11,065.51 253 Bluescope Steel Limited Materials $8,786.40 $12,037.36 254 South32 Ltd. Materials $11,909.19 $16,315.59 255 Newcrest Mining Limited Materials $14,548.52 $19.931.47 256 James Hardie Industries PLC Chess Units of Foreign Securities Materials $17,748.31 $24,315.19 257 Amcor PLC Shs Chess Depository Interests Repr 1 Sh Materials $18,764.64 $25,707.55 258 Fortescue Metals Group Ltd Materials $38,626.21 $52,917.90 259 Piedmont Lithium Inc Chess Depository Interests Materials $77,919.87 $106,750.22 260 Rio Tinto Limited Materials $121,379.13 $166,289.40 261 BHP Group Ltd Materials $149,582.05 $204,927.40 262 Cedar Woods Properties Limited Real Estate $364.02 $498.71 B1 16-SEP-2021 A D E F G H B 16-SEP-2021 1 Date of Data: E F G H A 3 Firm Name GICS ASX Sector Market Capitalization (USD million) Market Capitalization (AUD million) 4 1 5 Southern Cross Media Group Limited Communication Services S413.35 $566.29 D 203 Afterpay Limited Information Technology $26.009.09 $35,632.45 204 MACA Limited Materials $198.92 $272.52 205 Red 5 Limited Materials $308.97 $423.29 206 Jupiter Mines Limited Materials $313.60 $429 63 207 Aurelia Metals Limited Materials $318.95 $436.97 208 Alkane Resources Ltd Materials $350.92 $480.76 209 Resolute Mining Limited Materials $357.45 $489.70 210 Mount Gibson Iron Limited Materials $409.89 $561.55 211 Perenti Global Limited Materials $471,48 $645.93 212 Bellevue Gold Limited Materials $517.18 $708.53 213 Westgold Resources Ltd Materials $550.62 $754.35 214 Capricorn Metals Ltd Materials $573.17 $785.25 215 West African Resources Ltd Materials $649.06 $889.22 216 Imdex Ltd Materials $677.92 $928.76 217 Western Areas Limited Materials $718.51 $984.36 218 St. Barbara Ltd. Materials $775.37 $1,062.25 219 ioneer Limited Materials $828.07 $1,134.46 220 Sandfire Resources Limited Materials $834.00 $1,142.58 221 Ramelius Resources Limited Materials $879.59 $1,205.04 222 Gold Road Resources Ltd Materials $897.36 $1,229.39 223 Silver Lake Resources Limited Materials $898.07 $1,230.36 224 De Grey Mining Ltd Materials $994.00 $1,361.78 225 Pact Group Holdings Ltd. Materials $1,016.25 $1,392 26 226 Regis Resources Limited Materials $1,179.81 $1,616.35 227 Nufarm Limited Materials $1,224.13 $1,677.06 228 Perseus Mining Limited Materials $1,410.04 $1,931.76 229 Deterra Royalties Ltd Materials $1,484.42 $2.033.66 230 ADBRI Limited Materials $1,695.34 $2.322.61 231 Coronado Global Resources Inc. Shs Chess Depository Interests Rep Materials $1,695.62 $2,323.00 232 Chalice Mining Limited Materials $1,929.67 $2,643.65 233 Champion Iron Ltd Materials $1,971.44 $2.700.87 234 Sims Ltd. Materials $2,000.18 $2.740.25 235 Nickel Mines Ltd. Materials $2,031.37 $2.782.97 236 Orora Ltd. Materials $2,083.89 $2,854.93 237 CSR Limited Materials $2,105.01 $2,883.86 238 Orocobre Limited Materials $2,349.00 $3,218.13 239 Brickworks Ltd Materials $2,839.24 $3,889.76 240 Iluka Resources Limited Materials $3,183.00 $4,360.71 241 SSR Mining Inc Shs Chess Depository Interests repr 1 shs Materials $3,462.58 $4,743.73 242 Orica Limited Materials $3,694.67 $5,061.70 243 Incitec Pivot Limited Materials $4,056.06 $5,556.80 244 Alumina Limited Materials $4,495.76 $6,159.19 245 Evolution Mining Limited Materials $4,873.78 $6,677.08 246 Pilbara Minerals Limited Materials $4,915.00 $6,733.56 247 Lynas Rare Earths Limited Materials $5,088.00 $6,970.56 248 Boral Limited Materials $5.140.04 $7,041.85 249 IGO Limited Materials $5,321.83 $7,290.90 250 OZ Minerals Limited Materials $5,860.33 $8,028.65 251 Mineral Resources Limited Materials $7,225.20 $9,898.53 252 Northern Star Resources Ltd Materials $8,077.02 $11,065.51 253 Bluescope Steel Limited Materials $8,786.40 $12,037.36 254 South32 Ltd. Materials $11,909.19 $16,315.59 255 Newcrest Mining Limited Materials $14,548.52 $19.931.47 256 James Hardie Industries PLC Chess Units of Foreign Securities Materials $17,748.31 $24,315.19 257 Amcor PLC Shs Chess Depository Interests Repr 1 Sh Materials $18,764.64 $25,707.55 258 Fortescue Metals Group Ltd Materials $38,626.21 $52,917.90 259 Piedmont Lithium Inc Chess Depository Interests Materials $77,919.87 $106,750.22 260 Rio Tinto Limited Materials $121,379.13 $166,289.40 261 BHP Group Ltd Materials $149,582.05 $204,927.40 262 Cedar Woods Properties Limited Real Estate $364.02 $498.71
