You have received the following email from Marcus Svenson, Finance Director:
From: Marcus Svenson, Finance Director
To: Senior Finance Manager
Subject: Investment opportunity
Hi,
The Board is considering an investment opportunity to buy a forest in Bravador, a country in South Americ a. This will be a major expansion and will also enable us to diversify into new lines. For example, the forest contains lots of hardwood varieties that we could sell to companies in the double glazing industry or to furniture manufacturers. I downloaded the attached extract from an online encyclopaedia for your information.
The forest that we are planning to buy has not been used for commercial purposes until now. The land belonged to the Government for many years and it has been left to grow naturally. The Government is now keen to sell the land and has agreed that it may be used for commercial forestry purposes.
This investment will enable us to increase our output of softwoods by up to 20% per year, in addition to enabling us to enter the hardwood market.
I need two things from you. I need you to recommend a suitable approach to managing our relationship with the Bravadorian Government. I also need you to identify and explain the political risks that will remain even if we succeed in creating a sound relationship with the Government.
Marcus
Reference Material:
A further eight weeks have passed since the discussion concerning Wodd's creation of an accredited Forest Certification Service.
Wodd's Chairman has asked you to a meeting:
"I thought that we had a lucky escape over the Barry Crauder story from a recent news article, but the Government is considering modifying the tax arrangements associated with forestry. Professional forestry companies such as Wodd will continue to pay no tax on forestry profits, but private individuals such as Mr Crauder will be taxed on profits just as they would for any other business. The Government is taking this action because public opinion is against granting generous tax relief to wealthy individuals.
For the moment, this is all highly secret. The minister responsible for forestry has spoken to the chairmen of all of the major forestry companies on the basis that each gives a personal guarantee to respect the Government's confidence. The minister has done so because she is concerned that stock markets will panic when the news of the tax changes are announced next week. If the shareholders incorrectly believe that we will lose the tax shield on our profits then the share price will drop like a stone. We will be able to announce that we are aware of the changes and that we will not be taxed differently because of them.
I have spoken to the Board about this, making them promise not to repeat any of this information. We have called in and briefed the key analysts who advise the main institutional investors in Marland on the forestry industry.
As things stand, we can expect a lot of the wealthy individuals who own forests to divest themselves as soon as they discover that there are no more tax incentives. That will have significant implications for Wodd, both directly and indirectly.
The Board believes that the markets will overreact when the tax changes are first announced and that we will be unable to do much to manage that. One suggestion that has been put forward is that we should increase the dividend slightly as a signal that we are confident in the future strength of the industry. I suspect that the executive directors are just a little too concerned with the fact that they all have stock options that can only be exercised on a date that falls just after the government is due to announce its intentions on tax.
I need your thoughts in order to have an independent viewpoint from that voiced by the Board:
* What effect will the tax changes have on our business?
* Do you agree that briefing the analysts will mitigate the risk of our share price overreacting when the tax changes are announced?
* Will the additional dividend payment help to maintain the share price?
* Is granting executive stock options always a sound basis for aligning the interests of the executive directors and the shareholders?"
You received a telephone call at home early in the morning, asking you to check your emails. The following email was waiting for you:
From: William Seaton, Director of Finance
To: Finance Manager
Subject: Public relations crisis
Hi,
This email arrived from the Head of our Middle East office just now. They are a few hours ahead of us, so he rang me at home to make sure that I had seen his message.
We have a few hours before the news article will be published, so I need to make the best use of that time in order to limit the damage to Slide. Your priority is to protect our reputation because I have already woken up the engineers and geologists and they are going to deal with the actual oil spillage.
I am not thinking too clearly, so I need you to provide some initial thoughts on the following:
* Should we use our business relationship with Business News to have them withdraw the story? We are a major advertiser and we spend millions with them every month. What are the advantages and disadvantages?
* Should we respond with the facts as we know them? All we know for certain is that there have been reports of oil contamination in an area that has countless oil facilities nearby, and so we could deny all responsibility, at least until our experts have had the chance to get there and to investigate.
* If we do decide to make a public announcement then we will need to have a plan in place. We need to assemble a team to deal with the press. How should we structure our media response team?
* What are the key factors that the Board should consider when communicating with the press? Explain why the factors that you have identified are important.
I realise that it is still very early, but I need your thoughts very quickly.
Thanks
William
The email referred to above can be found by clicking on the Reference Materials button.
Reference Material:
Wodd's Chief Executive, Peter Sorchi has stopped you in the corridor:
"This weak USD is really causing us some serious problems. I think that it is only a matter of time before the stock market starts to get nervous and I am worried that our share price will fall in the near future. Thank goodness it does not appear to have fallen by much so far.
I would like to brief the Board on two main issues tomorrow. Firstly, what can we do as a Board in order to minimise the negative impact of the weak USD on our share price? Secondly, we know the identities of the key investment analysts who deal with our industry. Would it be a good idea for us to brief them? Please also consider the ethical issues arising from both of these topics as well as the more technical matters.
Please let me have a copy of your briefing notes in advance. I need to be able to sound convincing at the meeting. I'll also have my secretary refer you to a really helpful blog."
The Director of Finance, William Seaton, has stopped you in the corridor:
"Your report was really helpful, but the Board is still considering the implications of that email from Jan Archibald at Fouce Oil. I need to make a more detailed report to the Board and I would like you to draft it for me.
I know that we have owned and operated oil wells in the past, but that has always been with the intention of finding a buyer who is prepared to pay a realistic price. We have chosen never to think about the implications of keeping wells.
I need a report from you that covers the following issues:
* The key political risks of retaining our interest in these oil wells, with particular emphasis on high consequence, high likelihood risks.
* A suitable response to each of your political risks.
* An overview of how changes in the global economy and the demand for oil could affect the decision to proceed.
* The challenges associated with putting together a management team to take charge of the production side of this proposed new strategy.
I realise that this is a lot to ask of you, but I need you to move quickly because of the interest from our biggest shareholder."
Enter your email address to download CIMA.CIMAPRO19-CS3-1.v2025-02-21.q14 Dumps
