CASE 57
EVERLAST
Ever last is well-known battery manufacturer headquartered in the United States. It is holding a meeting to review plans for a new plant in Arabia, a small country on the Persian Gulf. At the meeting is Ed Phillips, the CEO; Robert Strauss, treasurer and CFO; and Susan Altman, head of the international division. Susan Altman is making the presentation. ALTMAN Today we're here to discuss a proposal to build a battery manufacturing plant in Arabia. The Plant will cost $ 10 million and generate a rate of return of 18.4 percent and an NPV of $945,800. Our share of the cost is $ 7.5 million, with the remainder provided by our prospective partner in Arabia, Mr. Mohammed Jeddah. Mr. Jeddah owns a facility in Arabia that was previously used by a firm that went bankrupt. The plant is in good condition, and all necessary facilities such as railroad sidings, electricity, water, and telephone service are already in place. Mr. Jeddah has agreed to transfer ownership to our new subsidiary, Ever last Arabia, in return for a 25 percent interest in the new company. We will provide working capital, machinery, technical expertise, and sales outlets. The machinery for the plant can be built in our plant in Houston and shipped to Arabia. Based on our experience at opening other plants, we expect minimal start-up problems. Unlike many countries, the rulers in Arabia are very probusiness. There is little threat of expropriation, and the tax code and investment code are reasonable. There is a requirement that locals own 25 percent of the enterprise. That reduces our profits, but it's better than some other countries in the area that require local control of a majority of the shares. Also, unlike many other countries, the regulations and tax rates are the same for foreigners and nationals. Finally, there are no local currency controls. As overseas projects go, this one is a piece of cake.
PHLLIPS Can you step us through the financials ?
ALTMAN Certainly. As you can see from your handout, Exhibit 1 shows annual sales of 20 million units. Given the current forecasts of prices in the European market, this generates revenues in the first year of $ 10 million. Our equipment is expected to last seven years, at which point it is likely to be technologically obsolete. Consequently, I've assumed this is a seven-year project and we will withdraw at the end of that time. Obviously ,if conditions warrant, we can stay longer. STRAUSS You should be aware, Ed, that the tax component here represents port taxes, tariffs, employment taxes, and some miscellaneous taxes but no income taxes.
ALTMAN No income taxes 1 !
STRAUSS That's right . The Arabian government has given us a 10-year income tax holiday, so we pay no Arabian taxes. Normally, we would pay U.S taxes on the profits. But,as you know ,our plant in Letho lost money for several years. The tax law allows us to offset our profits in Arabia with our losses in Letho,so we pray no U.S. taxes either.
PHILLIPS By .the way, you've been talking about dollar figures. Shouldn't we be talking in terms of the local currency, Arabian pounbs ?
ALTMAN The numbers in the handout are in Arabian pounds, but since the Arabian pound is pegged, one-to-one, to the U.S. dollar, we can our currency. As you can see from Exhibit 1,I have one line at the bottom where I traslate Everlast's shaer of the cash flow into dollars.
PHILLIPS Is there a risk of devaluation ?
ALTMAN Yes, in fact there's a fairly high probability that the pound will be devaluated. The currency is overvalued by 20 percent. However, the government has enough reserves to sustain an overvlued currency for a long time.
PHILLIPS What happens to the financials if there is a devaluation ?
ALTMAN I don't have numbers on that case, but I don't think it will make much difference because neither our revenue nor most of our costs are in Arabian pounds. For example, our sales are all in Europe, and we assume European currencies will, on average, remain stable vis-a-vis the dollar. So the revenues, measured in dollars, would not be affected by the devaluation. Materials (which are entirely imported) would cost the same in dollar terms. Even labor would probably cost about the same, because most of our workers would be expatriates, and we'd probably have to pay them in dollar terms.
To the extent we employ Arabians, labor cost might be lower because-atleast initialy-we'd pay them the same number of Arabian pounds per week; but it would cost us fewer dollars to buy those pounds. It's hard to tell about labor cost because we don't know the mix of employees yet. Frankly,we may not be hiring very many Arabians.
PHILLIPS I’ ve heard that the government gives them so much-free medical services, cheap fuel, electricty, and so on -that it's hard to motivate them.
ALTMAN That's often the case. But more important, most of the jobs we have will be on production line or on the maintenance crew or the loading docks.
Those are definitely not the jobs that Arabians want. We'll train some for the from office and sales, but I doubt they will make up more then 10 percent of the labor force.
STRAUSS On the other hand, the value of our plant would drop. If it were worth 3.4 million before and the pound drops by 20 percent, then the value of our investment drops 20 percent, too.
ALTMAN The plant is going to be more profitable than ever after devaluation since labor costs may drop slightly , and so other costs like taxes may decrease in dollar terms, too. So it seems to me that the plant must be more valuable ,not less.
STRAUSS How much would it sell for ?
ALTMAN I don't know. I'll have to look into that.
PHILLIPS Let's talk a little more about the rate of return. Your NPV estimate assumes a raquired return of 15 percent, which is the hurdle rate for our U.S. projects. Shouldn't we use a higher rate for a foreign investment ?
ALTMAN As a general rule, I agree. All of the other foreign projects I've presented to the board have had rates of return in excess of 20 percent. But this project is much safer than the typical foreign investment. The infrastructure is built and in excellent condition,taxes are no problem, shipping costs to our markets are modest, the government is stable, and the life of the project is only seven years- we get out money out pretty quickly.
PHLLIPS True, but this project not make it if the tax law changes. We' don't usually approve projects that are so close to the hurdle rate that a tax advantage would make a difference.
STRAUSS In this case,though, there is a time limit on using on using the losses. If we don't use them up soon, they'll pass the time limit and we can't use them at all
PHILLPS Why can't we build the same plant in Europe? Then the transportation costs would be even lower, and we could avoid some tariffs.
STRAUSS True, but then we wouldn't be able to use the tax credits.
STRAMAN The costs of building and operating a plant in Europe are higher, too.
PHlLLIPS Why don’t you look at some of the issues we’ve discussed and we’ll meet again Monday morning.
 
CASE 57
EVERLAST
Ever last is well-known battery manufacturer headquartered in the United States. It is holding a meeting to review plans for a new plant in Arabia, a small country on the Persian Gulf. At the meeting is Ed Phillips, the CEO; Robert Strauss, treasurer and CFO; and Susan Altman, head of the international division. Susan Altman is making the presentation. ALTMAN Today we're here to discuss a proposal to build a battery manufacturing plant in Arabia. The Plant will cost $ 10 million and generate a rate of return of 18.4 percent and an NPV of $945,800. Our share of the cost is $ 7.5 million, with the remainder provided by our prospective partner in Arabia, Mr. Mohammed Jeddah. Mr. Jeddah owns a facility in Arabia that was previously used by a firm that went bankrupt. The plant is in good condition, and all necessary facilities such as railroad sidings, electricity, water, and telephone service are already in place. Mr. Jeddah has agreed to transfer ownership to our new subsidiary, Ever last Arabia, in return for a 25 percent interest in the new company. We will provide working capital, machinery, technical expertise, and sales outlets. The machinery for the plant can be built in our plant in Houston and shipped to Arabia. Based on our experience at opening other plants, we expect minimal start-up problems. Unlike many countries, the rulers in Arabia are very probusiness. There is little threat of expropriation, and the tax code and investment code are reasonable. There is a requirement that locals own 25 percent of the enterprise. That reduces our profits, but it's better than some other countries in the area that require local control of a majority of the shares. Also, unlike many other countries, the regulations and tax rates are the same for foreigners and nationals. Finally, there are no local currency controls. As overseas projects go, this one is a piece of cake.
PHLLIPS Can you step us through the financials ?
ALTMAN Certainly. As you can see from your handout, Exhibit 1 shows annual sales of 20 million units. Given the current forecasts of prices in the European market, this generates revenues in the first year of $ 10 million. Our equipment is expected to last seven years, at which point it is likely to be technologically obsolete. Consequently, I've assumed this is a seven-year project and we will withdraw at the end of that time. Obviously ,if conditions warrant, we can stay longer. STRAUSS You should be aware, Ed, that the tax component here represents port taxes, tariffs, employment taxes, and some miscellaneous taxes but no income taxes.
ALTMAN No income taxes 1 !
STRAUSS That's right . The Arabian government has given us a 10-year income tax holiday, so we pay no Arabian taxes. Normally, we would pay U.S taxes on the profits. But,as you know ,our plant in Letho lost money for several years. The tax law allows us to offset our profits in Arabia with our losses in Letho,so we pray no U.S. taxes either.
PHILLIPS By .the way, you've been talking about dollar figures. Shouldn't we be talking in terms of the local currency, Arabian pounbs ?
ALTMAN The numbers in the handout are in Arabian pounds, but since the Arabian pound is pegged, one-to-one, to the U.S. dollar, we can our currency. As you can see from Exhibit 1,I have one line at the bottom where I traslate Everlast's shaer of the cash flow into dollars.
PHILLIPS Is there a risk of devaluation ?
ALTMAN Yes, in fact there's a fairly high probability that the pound will be devaluated. The currency is overvalued by 20 percent. However, the government has enough reserves to sustain an overvlued currency for a long time.
PHILLIPS What happens to the financials if there is a devaluation ?
ALTMAN I don't have numbers on that case, but I don't think it will make much difference because neither our revenue nor most of our costs are in Arabian pounds. For example, our sales are all in Europe, and we assume European currencies will, on average, remain stable vis-a-vis the dollar. So the revenues, measured in dollars, would not be affected by the devaluation. Materials (which are entirely imported) would cost the same in dollar terms. Even labor would probably cost about the same, because most of our workers would be expatriates, and we'd probably have to pay them in dollar terms.
To the extent we employ Arabians, labor cost might be lower because-atleast initialy-we'd pay them the same number of Arabian pounds per week; but it would cost us fewer dollars to buy those pounds. It's hard to tell about labor cost because we don't know the mix of employees yet. Frankly,we may not be hiring very many Arabians.
PHILLIPS I’ ve heard that the government gives them so much-free medical services, cheap fuel, electricty, and so on -that it's hard to motivate them.
ALTMAN That's often the case. But more important, most of the jobs we have will be on production line or on the maintenance crew or the loading docks.
Those are definitely not the jobs that Arabians want. We'll train some for the from office and sales, but I doubt they will make up more then 10 percent of the labor force.
STRAUSS On the other hand, the value of our plant would drop. If it were worth 3.4 million before and the pound drops by 20 percent, then the value of our investment drops 20 percent, too.
ALTMAN The plant is going to be more profitable than ever after devaluation since labor costs may drop slightly , and so other costs like taxes may decrease in dollar terms, too. So it seems to me that the plant must be more valuable ,not less.
STRAUSS How much would it sell for ?
ALTMAN I don't know. I'll have to look into that.
PHILLIPS Let's talk a little more about the rate of return. Your NPV estimate assumes a raquired return of 15 percent, which is the hurdle rate for our U.S. projects. Shouldn't we use a higher rate for a foreign investment ?
ALTMAN As a general rule, I agree. All of the other foreign projects I've presented to the board have had rates of return in excess of 20 percent. But this project is much safer than the typical foreign investment. The infrastructure is built and in excellent condition,taxes are no problem, shipping costs to our markets are modest, the government is stable, and the life of the project is only seven years- we get out money out pretty quickly.
PHLLIPS True, but this project not make it if the tax law changes. We' don't usually approve projects that are so close to the hurdle rate that a tax advantage would make a difference.
STRAUSS In this case,though, there is a time limit on using on using the losses. If we don't use them up soon, they'll pass the time limit and we can't use them at all
PHILLPS Why can't we build the same plant in Europe? Then the transportation costs would be even lower, and we could avoid some tariffs.
STRAUSS True, but then we wouldn't be able to use the tax credits.
STRAMAN The costs of building and operating a plant in Europe are higher, too.
PHlLLIPS Why don’t you look at some of the issues we’ve discussed and we’ll meet again Monday morning.
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