1. Introduction
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. is a leading worldwide hospitality company, with operating units in the United States and 53 other countries and territories. Major businesses include hotels operated and franchised under the Marriott and other International brands, restaurants, and food service distribution. The company headquarters are in Washington, D. C.
The vice president of project finance at Marriott Corporation, prepares recommendations annually for the hurdle rates at each of the firm¡¯s three divisions. In this reflective case, the company¡¯s policies and strategies related with hurdle rates and cost of capital are discussed. In the above context, the company¡¯s policy of repurchasing its shares is also reviewed ; particularly, it focuses on the financial effects there may be if there is a 30% repurchase of the common stock.
For practical purposes, this paper is organized in four sections : first, a review of the financial performance of the company as a background for the general discussion ; the second section refers to the common stock of the company including the evolution of Marriott¡¯s shares in the market and repurchasing policy ; a third section focuses on the company¡¯s policies for project evaluation ; and finally cost of capital and capital structure is boarded in the fourth section. All the four sections refer to the ten-year period from 1978 to 1987 in accordance with the information provided by the text case, and it is assumed that if there were a 30% repurchase of Marriott¡¯s common stock it would be done in 1988.
2. Financial Performance
This section reviews Marriott¡¯s financial performance based upon ratio analysis. In regards to the assets turnover, Marriott¡¯s ratio has grown from 1.17 in 1979 to 1.40 in 1982 (see exhibit 1), while from 1983 this ratio diminished to 1.29 and it was more stable. It is my assumption that assets turnover ratio diminished due to new hotels, restaurants and other fixed assets acquisitions made by the company as part of its growing strategy.
As exhibit 1 also shows, debt ratio has constantly grown from 0.58 in 1978 to 0.85 in 1987, and debt-equity ratio has grown from 1.39 to 5.62 in the same period. It is my assumption that this debt growth is a result of the company¡¯s shares-repurchasing policy, because they had to raise funds by long-term debt in order to pay such shares, as it is discussed later in this paper.
Star Appliance is looking to expand their product line and is considering three different projects: dishwashers, garbage disposals, and trash compactors. We want to determine which project would be worth doing by determining if they will add value to Star. Thus, the project(s) that will add the most value to Star Appliance will be worth pursuing. The current hurdle rate of 10% should be re-evaluated by finding the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Then by forecasting the cash flows of each project and discounting them by the WACC to find the net present value, or by solving for the internal rate of return, we should be able to see which projects Star should undertake.
DuPont is a very big company with a low debt policy designed to maximize financial flexibility and insulate operations from financial constraints. It is one of the few AAA rated manufacturing companies due its investments are primarily financed from internal sources. However, because prices fell in the 1960’s thus DuPont’s net income fell also. The adverse economic conditions in 1970’s escalated inflation: increase in oil prices increased required inventory investments of the company. 1975 recession negatively affected DuPont’s net income by 33% and returns on capital and earnings per share fell. The company cut dividends in 1974 and working capital investment removed. Proportion of debt increased from 7% in 1972 to 27% in 1975 and interest coverage falls from 38 to 4.6. The company perceived increase in debt temporary but moved quickly to reduce its debt ratio by decreasing capital expenditures. Debt proportion dropped to 20%, interest coverage increased to 11.5 by 1979.
Marriott Corporation is an international company who's the growth over the year has been more than satisfactory.
The consistent high spending of capital equipment is the first reason why one would recommend reducing the debt to equity ratio. A company with higher levels of debt is less flexible in being able to adjust to new market demands and conditions that require the company to make new products or respond to competition. Looking at the pecking order of financing, issuing new shares to fund capital investing is the last resort and a company that has high levels of debt, must move to the equity side to avoid the risk of bankruptcy. Defaulting on loans occur when increased costs or bad economic conditions lead the firm to have lower net income than the payments on loans. The risk of defaulting on loans and the direct and indirect cost related to defaulting lead firms to prefer lower levels of debt. The financial distress caused by additional leverage can lead to lower cash flows available to all investors, lower than if the firm was financed by equity only. Additionally, the high debt ratio that Du Pont incurred also led to them dropping from a AAA bond rating to a AA bond Rating. Although the likelihood of not being able to acquire loans would be minimal, there are increased interest costs with having a lower bond rating. The lower bond rating signals to investors that the firm is more likely to default than if it had a higher (AAA) bond rating.
...o renegotiate credit agreements with banks. However, the liquidity was a result of structural changes and would not bring significant effect to the company because it is unusual and infrequent (the extraordinary credits of $15 million fall in this category also). The financial report must be consistent year-by-year. A company should do the same or similar activities, especially operating activities, to generate “money” every year and recognize “money” as its profit. However, this is not the case for Harnischfeger. We are doubtful that the company will perform well in the future. The company recorded modest profit this year because it reduced operating cost not because it increased operating revenue. Since Harnischfeger did not generate its profit by operating activity, it would be too risky to predict if its stock price will reach $6.00 per share in the 1986-87.
Current Ratio – For the last three years was growing from 3.56 in 2001 to 3.81 in 2002 to 4.22 in 2003. The reason of grow is increased in Assets. Even though Liability was growing, Asset grow was more significant.
As financial consultants, we have been asked by Walt Disney’s management to provide an evaluation of this alternative to the company for this financing decision. For this estimate, we have reviewed the data of the Consolidated Income Statements from 1982 to 1983, the Consolidated Balance Sheets of 1984 and 1983, the Historical Summary of Average Yen/Dollar Exchange Rates and Price Indexes, ECU/Yen Swap flows in the following ten years, Yen Long-dated foreign exchange forward, Cash flow of 10-year ECU Euro bonds with sinking fund (Exhibit 6), and also the list of the French Utility’s outstanding publicly Traded Eurobonds.
Kodak’s debt ratio has been improving since 2012 when it was considerably above 1. Their 2014 debt ratio is 0.89, which is very close to Hewlett-Packard and Sony. The debt-to-equity ratio of Kodak is the first signal within the ratios that the company is not performing well. Generally, this ratio should be below 1 and for Kodak in 2014 it was 8.83. Their equity is almost non-existent and this is signaling very weak balance sheet strength. Compared to Kodak, Hewlett-Packard and Sony are doing okay, but their ratios are both well above 1. In terms of ability to pay interest, Kodak’s only strong year was 2013. Their ratio has dipped in 2014, showing that they aren’t able to pay their interest or are struggling to pay it. Hewlett-Packard had no interest expense in their latest fiscal year and Sony’s ratio is very strong. In 2012, Kodak’s free cash flow was in the negatives (-$1,176,000). Surprisingly, it reached over two million in 2013, but then dropped to only $33,000 in 2014. Without sufficient cash flow, Kodak is going to have a difficult time increasing their shareholder value. Hewlett-Packard has free cash flow over five million dollars which is huge compared to Kodak. Kodak does not seem to have sufficient cash to handle their business obligations. The cash flow adequacy ratio should be above 1, but Kodak’s are negative. The competitors are around 0.5 for their cash flow adequacy ratio, which
Hilton Worldwide carries out business through three segments: (1) management and franchise; (2) ownership; and (3) time-share. These business segments enable management to capitalize on strengths like brand recognition and economies of scale. The company focuses primarily on the management and franchise segment which consist of 3,918 hotels with 610,413 rooms. Managing the properties, rather than owning them, allows the company t...
...rs, setting a good trend for the corporation. They also have a very low debt-to-equity ratio, indicating that they have enough equity to easily pay off any funds acquired from creditors. As a creditor I would feel safe in lending them funds for any future projects or endeavors.
47% of Marriott’s rooms are in North American Limited Service, 30% are classified as North American Full Service, and the remaining 23% of its rooms are in the international segment (Marriott, 2015). Recognizing that travelers have a range of budgetary and amenities needs, Marriott operates its properties under a variety of different brand names, 19 in total, each of which has its own “price and service points” (Marriott, 2015). Most of Marriott’s brands are at the high end of the market, which includes such widely recognized luxury brands as the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Bulgari Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club, Edition Hotels, Autograph Collection Hotels, Gaylord Hotels, and Marriott Hotels (Marriott, 2015). These properties often command nightly rental rates that can run several hundred dollars a night and offer a wide range of amenities well suited for both business and pleasure travelers. These properties are classified as “Full-Service.” Marriott also offers a range of “Limited-Service” brands that do not contain as many amenities and tend to be much cheaper than the Full-Service line. Examples of these properties include Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, and Fairfield Inn & Suites (Marriott, 2015). Even though these properties are considered Limited-Service, they do offer considerably nicer accommodations and more amenities than other types of budget motels and hotels. In contrast to many of the other hotel brands, Marriott International does not operate any midscale, economy, or budget
As of March 2013, Marriott International Inc owned six hotels, leased 38 hotels, managed 1,021 hotels and franchised 2,571 hotels. Furthermore Marriott is having 387 hotels (67,000 rooms) in the pipeline since the start of 2013. (Freed, 2013) (Hampton, 2014)
In 1993 the Debt to Equity Ratio was .45. In 1994 it was .68 and in 1995 it was .73. This is a trend that Clarkson will have to take into consideration as he refinances his company.
Organizations use financial statements and ratio analysis assess financial performance viability. The ratio analysis are used to identify trends and to perform organizational comparison (financial) with other companies within same industry. Ratio analysis, using data reported on the financial statements, are divided into five major categories: common size, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, and profitability. This paper will assess the financial stability of John Hopkins Hospital (JHH) using the five ratio analysis.
The debt used to acquire Salomon has been an important issue for the finances of the company. Although financially storng and unlikely to default, the company needs to look into reducing its debt to increase its profitability.