HI5002 Finance for Business Group Assignment T2 2018 XXXXXXXXXX1 HI5002: Finance for Business Trimester 2 2018 Group Assignment Assessment Value: 30% Due Date: Sunday 23:59 pm, Week 10 Group: 2 - 4...

Please refer to the attached file. We have chosen Vodafone Group PLC and Telstra Corporation LTD


HI5002 Finance for Business Group Assignment T2 2018 1 HI5002: Finance for Business Trimester 2 2018 Group Assignment Assessment Value: 30% Due Date: Sunday 23:59 pm, Week 10 Group: 2 - 4 students Length: Min 3,000 words INSTRUCTIONS Students are required to form a group to study, undertake research, analyse and conduct academic work within the areas of business finance covered in learning materials Topics 1 to 10 inclusive. The assignment should examine the main issues, including underlying theories, implement performance measures used and explain the corporate financial performance. Your group is strongly advised to reference professional websites, journal articles and text books in this assignment (case study). Tasks This assessment task is a written report and analysis of the financial performance of two selected listed companies on the ASX in order to provide financial and investment advice to a wealthy investor. This assignment requires your group to undertake a comprehensive examination of corporate financial performance based on update financial statements of the chosen companies. Group Arrangement This assignment must be completed IN Group. Each group can be from 2 to maximum 4 student members. Each group will choose two companies and once the companies has been chosen, the other group cannot choose the same two companies. First come first served rule applies here, it means you need to form your group, choose two companies from the list of ASX and register them with your lecturer as soon as possible. Indicate your group leader when registering your group with your lecturer for assignment administration and submission. Once your lecturer registers your chosen companies, they cannot be chosen by any other group. Your lecturer then will put your group on Black Board to enable you to interact and discuss on the issues of your group assignment using Black Board environment. However, face to face meeting, discussion and other methods of communication are needed to ensure quality of group work. Each group needs to have your own arrangement so that all the group members will contribute equally in the group work. If not, a Contribution Statement, which clearly indicated individual contribution (in terms of percentage) of each member, should be submitted as a separate item in your assignment. Your individual contribution then will be assessed based on contribution statement to avoid any free riders. HI5002 Finance for Business Group Assignment T2 2018 2 Submission Please make sure that your group member’s name and surname, student ID, subject name, and code and lecture’s name are written on the cover sheet of the submitted assignment. When you submit your assignment electronically, please save the file as ‘Group Assignment- your group name .doc’. You are required to submit the assignment at Group Assignment Final Submission, which is under Group Assignment and Due Dates on Black Board. Submitted work should be your original work showing your creativity. Please ensure the self-check for plagiarism to be done before final submission in accordance with SafeAssign Student Guide in Black Board. As a guide, a similarity score of over 30% is considered as excessive except in the cases where the similarity is caused by the use of template provided by the lecturer, references or sources of data. Please note that it takes 48 hours for the self-check report to be available for your viewing. Always keep an electronic copy until you have received the final grade for the Unit. Please make sure that you submit the correct file. Any appeal relating to submitting wrong files after the deadline will not be considered. Deadlines Registration of groups and chosen companies: 5 pm Friday, Week 4 Final Submission of Group Assignment: Midnight (23:59 pm.) Sunday, Week 10 Late submission incurs penalties of 5 (five) % of the assessment value per calendar day unless an extension and/or special consideration has been granted by the lecturer prior to the assessment deadline. BACKGROUND You’re a group of investment analysts who work for a large investment consulting firm based in Australia. There’s one big institutional investor from overseas that is interested in investing in the Australian market. You’ve been asked to choose two large companies operating under the same industry in Australia (the industry you think will have the most promising future for investment) then evaluate and compare them. Finally make a recommendation through your Report to the investor which one is more superior fundamentally. Create your group’s “business name” under which your group will be providing the financial advisory services. Choose two listed companies that your group will investigate/analyse for the purposes of possible recommendation to your client. The group should obtain all information about the selected companies from this web site: www.asx.com.au. Required: Obtain copies of Financial Statements including Income Statements, Balance Sheets, and Statement of Changes in Equity, Cash Flows Statements and Notes for three (3) financial year 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. Your group can download these documents from the suggested web site using the firm’s code (example, BHP- for BHP http://www.asx.com.au/ http://www.asx.com.au/ http://www.asx.com.au/ http://www.asx.com.au/ HI5002 Finance for Business Group Assignment T2 2018 3 Billiton Company, etc.). The assignment should cover the contents described in Part 1 to 7 bellows. STAGES TO BE COMPLETED 1 Description of operation and comparative advantages of the two chosen companies. 2 Calculation and comparison of performance ratios of the two companies 3 Analysis of monthly share prices movements of the two companies within 3 years 4 Identify any significant factors which may have influenced the share price of your chosen companies during the time frame. 5 Calculation of Beta values and expected Rates of Return using the CAPM of the two chosen companies 6 Identify and compare dividend policy of the two chosen companies 7 Letter Recommendation Final Submission of Complete Assignment on Blackboard (Week 10) Details of financial analysis tasks: 1. Description of operation and comparative advantages of the two chosen companies: Prepare a brief description of the chosen companies, outlining the core activities, the market(s) in which they operate within and any factors in the companies’ history which you consider help present the pictures of your companies. Identify and compare their comparative advantages. 2 marks 2. Calculation and comparison of performance ratios: using financial data obtained from current financial statements of your selected companies for the past 3 years. Annual reports are accessible via company websites or ASX website. Your client is strongly interested in the three groups of ratios: - Liquidity ratios; - Profitability ratios - Capital structure (leverage) ratios You need to provide charts and/or tables for analysis and justification. 6 marks HI5002 Finance for Business Group Assignment T2 2018 4 3. Analysis of monthly share prices movements: Using the information from the ASX website, complete the following tasks: - Prepare graphs for movements in the monthly share price over the last three years for the companies that you are investigating. Plot them against movements in the All Ordinaries Index. 2 marks - Write a report which compares movements in the two selected companies’ share prices to each other and to the All Ords Index. For instance, how are the prices of the two selected moving? In the same trend or diverse trends? How closely are they correlated with the All Ords Index. Above or below? More or less volatile? 2 marks 4. Significant factors which may have influenced the share price: Research via the internet or financial/business publications: From research via the internet (using credible sources) or financial/business publications, identify at least 2 significant announcements which may have influenced the share price of your selected companies within 3 years. These factors could include merger or acquisitions, positive or negative earnings forecasts, unusual