Description

Heriot Watt University

C31CF Corporate Finance

Coursework Instructions

Word Count: 2000 words

Assessment Type: Report

Deadline 20^th October 2025

Assignment Overview

You are expected to do an in-depth financial analysis of the corporation allocated to you using relevant, high-quality data from reputable financial databases (and from publicly available annual reports of that corporation – if needed) and write a valuation report on that corporation (max length 2000 words).

Available Databases

HWU has access to several databases, including Bloomberg, Refinitiv Workspace, Thomson-One and Fitch. Using Fame, Bloomberg and Refinitiv Workspace is recommended.

How can you find the corporation we assigned you?

You have been assigned a corporation. You can find the identity of that corporation in the file named ‘C31CF Company Assignment’, published on Canvas. After opening the Excel spreadsheet (‘C31CF Company Assignment’), look for your student ID in column D to determine which corporation you have been assigned. If you cannot find your student ID listed in that column, please get in touch with your course instructor as soon as possible.

Detailed coursework instructions

You have to produce a 2000-word report and an Excel spreadsheet showing you can apply the valuation tools discussed in the course to perform a corporate valuation exercise.

You are required to address the following issues in your assignment:

• Evaluate your corporation’s return and risk profile. Critically analyse your findings and make recommendations.                  
• Analyse the capital structure of your corporation. Estimate the cost of debt and the required return on equity for your corporation using the approaches presented during lectures and tutorials. Also, calculate the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC).
• Payout policy. Analyse the company’s profitability and payout policy over the past 10 years (i.e., 2014-2024). It may include a dividend or buyback programme as a means of rewarding shareholders. Critically analyse the payout policy adopted by your corporation (dividend payout ratio vs retained earnings ratio and so on), and discuss if and how this affects the valuation models you are using for your equity asset valuation.                                                                      
• Corporate valuation. You are expected to determine whether the market price of your corporation can be justified. Connection to information from questions 1 to 3 will be a good starting point to frame your analysis. You will have to find the intrinsic value of your corporation’s equity using: (i) a Single/Multistage Dividend Discount Model (DDM), (ii) Free Cash Flow to the Firm (FCFF)/ Free Cash Flow to the Equity (FCFE) Models, (iii) Methods of Comparables, and (iv) Residual Income Model. Assess whether the company is fairly valued, overvalued or undervalued at the time of writing your report by comparing the market price for your company on that day with your calculated intrinsic value. (Make sure you present and justify your findings as well as the valuation assumptions you have made in the process.)

The Word file structure

Your report will have five sections and several subsections, depending on the task and will follow the broad instructions of slide 12 of lecture 1 (feel free to change the structure). The suggested titles of each of the five sections are reported in bold below (and on slide 12 of lecture 1).

Understanding the business. Industry and competitive analysis, together with an analysis of financial statements and other company disclosures.

Forecasting company performance. Calculate forecasts of sales, earnings, dividends, and financial position (pro forma analysis) as needed to define the inputs for your valuation models – discuss all relevant valuation assumptions.

Selecting the appropriate valuation models. Depending on the company’s characteristics and the valuation context, some models may be more appropriate than others. Describe and show all valuation models and findings, and explain which models have performed better/worse and why.

Converting forecasts to a valuation. Implement the valuation models (by showing all steps involved) and explain how your valuation was performed and led to your valuation findings. Critically describe your findings and critically assess investment implications (more about this in the next section).

Applying the valuation conclusions. Use the valuation conclusions to make an investment recommendation, provide an opinion about the price of a transaction, or evaluate the economic merits of an investment.

The Excel spreadsheet

You will also have to produce and submit an Excel file disclosing the input data and detailed calculations you used in your report (see Word file instructions above). When building the Excel file, you have to create several titled sheets disclosing (at least) the following information: (1) The cost of capital; (2) Discounted Dividend Valuation; (3) Free Cash Flow Valuation; (4) Methods of Comparables; (5) Residual Income Valuation; (6) Investment Recommendation. Each spreadsheet must contain input data for the model and the model valuation.

Report Format

• The report must be typed with double space and 12 font size (Times New Roman). It must not exceed 2,000 words, excluding the bibliography, cover page and appendices.  
• Please use tables to summarise data and findings. Upload also the Excel spreadsheet with your calculations (all formulas used should be visible).
• At the end of the report, please include references to high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles and data sources you have used for your report (such as Bloomberg, Annual Reports, Yahoo Finance, Equity Research reports, etc.) 
• You are expected to use academic articles where appropriate, which can be accessed from our electronic resources. Please make sure you always follow the Harvard referencing style. 

Coursework Assessment and Marks Allocation

The coursework marks are allocated as follows:

• Equity Asset Valuation Report (30%)
• Excel Spreadsheet with your company valuation and modelling (70%)

Submission of Coursework

An electronic PDF or Word file of your coursework MUST be submitted together with the relevant Excel spreadsheet via the correct Turnitin link for your campus of registration (via the Assessment area on CANVAS) on Monday, 20th of October 2025 (Week 7) by 11 am (UK), 3 pm (Dubai).

The essay must be an individual’s work, and Turnitin will be used as the actual date stamp of submission. No hard copy of your work is required, even if you are based on campus.

 

To receive high quality, AI and plagiarism free solution to this task, please contact us through WhatsApp +254716353533