CHRISTIAN SCHOPPER
20 Merchant Court, 61 Wapping WallLondon E1W 3SJ, U.K.
+44-7768-854-655 (mob.) / Eipeldauerstr. 38 / 22 / 8
1220 Vienna, Austria
+43 664 440 0154 (mob.)
COMPANY ANALYSIS AND BENCHMARKING
Course Description – Executive Summary
Content
The central theme of the sessions is to practice company analysis and benchmarking within an industry and to introduce forecasting and valuation based on – among others – industry benchmarking
Learning Approach
As needed, theory / concepts / techniques will be reviewed or introduced in class presentations prior to their application. The dominant modes will be your presentations and financial analysis of various companies and several case studies.
1. You will be required to hand in a 5-page analysis of the Case Study: “5 Minute Company Analysis”, answering – among others – the following questions / themes:
a. Provide a full analysis about how the Company is doing (Cash Flow; Working Capital Analysis; Margin Analysis; Growth Dynamics; Return Dynamics: RoE; RoA; RoI; etc.)
b. Depending on the pattern(s), what kind of industry could the Company be operating in
c. You are invited to invest EUR 100,000 in this Company at the end of year 1: What would your investment criteria include and what stake (what percentage) would you ask for?
2. You are a Research Analyst and you undertake a full analysis of Austrian ATX-listed company VA Stahl; conclusion will be on whether to invest in the stock or not, respectively what a “fair” share price might / could be. For this you will prepare a Power Point / Slide Presentation with following pages:
a. Company Overview
b. Trends in the global and European steel industry
c. VA Stahl´s strategic (not financial!) position in the European steel industry
d. Analyse key financial parameters of the years 2003, 2004, and – as far as available (use Textlines; Google; Online-News) – 2005: Working Capital Analysis; Margin Analysis; Growth Dynamics; Return Dynamics: RoE; RoA; RoI (Get the respective Annual Reports from the VA Stahl website for this purpose and focus on the consolidated Group results only!)
e. What is VA Stahl´s current cost of capital
f. How do you see the trends for 2005 / 2006 in respect to revenues, EBITDA, EBIT, Net Income (Make assumptions for this purpose)
g. How do you assess VA Stahl vis-à-vis major industry players (Use the attachment for the Case Study with various Valuation Multiples of key industry players)
h. Based on your assessment, what is a “fair” share price for VA Stahl
You should be prepared and ready to present your analysis in front of class
3. You are a Research Analyst and you undertake a full analysis of Österreichische Post, is expected to be floated on the Vienna Stock Exchange some time this year; your conclusion will be on whether to invest in the stock or not, respectively what a “fair” share price might / could be. For this you will prepare a Power Point / Slide presentation with the same outline as for VA Stahl. For the purpose of your analysis use the Morgan Stanley Research Report on Deutsche Post (10 Jan 2006) as a basis for benchmarking (use valuation multiples included in that report) and trends you might expect to happen in Austria like we see them in Germany. You should be prepared and ready to present your analysis in front of class
Course Material
Hand-Outs will be available at the Institute; these include: (i) 5 Minute Company Analysis; (ii) VA Stahl Attachment; and (iii) Morgan Stanley Equity Research on Deutsche Post from 10 Jan 2006. – All other material will need to be researched on the websites of the respective companies VA Stahl and Österreichische Post
Preparation and Grading
· Your respective Presentations must be handed in at the respective Institute in writing (i.e. paper print-out) latest the day before class starts – otherwise no grade will be given.
· Bring a CD / DVD with your presentation for class presentation, but also a print-out version in overhead format (transparencies), in case no beamer is avail in class room….
· You are free / encouraged to team up in pairs (2 individuals) to prepare the respective presentations, but not in groups (3 or more individuals)
· Grading will depend on the quality of hand-ins (70%) and your the effectiveness of your individual participation in classroom (30%)
· The course is intense and will require substantial amount of individual preparation