Investment Analysis Report
Corporate Financial Management
Investment Analysis Report on Majestic Wine Plc
SECTION A
a) Majestic Wine is the UK’s biggest retailer specialising in sales of wines by the mixed case (About Majestic, 2011). The company was established in 1980 (About Majestic, 2011). It has 166 stores in the UK and has opened stores in France also (About Majestic, 2011). It also has an online presence to generate sales.
The company’s strategy is built around delivering a high standard of customer service by trained staff (Majestic annual report 2011, 2011, p. 3). All retail staffs are required to take the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s advanced certificate after about six months in the company (Our Staff, 2011).
b) Majestic Wine is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), London Stock Exchange’s dedicated market for smaller and growing companies. This allowed Majestic Wines to raise capital by issuing shares to the public yet face lower regulatory pressures and expenses as would have been the case if it was listed on the main stock exchange (AIM, 2010, p. 5). It can be argued that Majestic’s market capitalisation is high enough for it to move to the main exchange but it will result in higher regulatory expenses which a growing company like Majestic would rather avoid to save capital for expansion.
c) The table below shows company’s financial performance over the last 5 years. Revenues increased every year although growth was higher in the last two years. The company managed to grow sales during the year ended March 2009 because of acquisition of a French wine company.
The pre-tax profits and net profits also increased every year except for the year ended March 2009. The significant decline in profits in 2009 was due to poor economic environment and high write-down on the goodwill value of French business (Majestic annual report 2009, 2009, p. 3). The pre-tax profit margins of around 8% and net profit margins of 5.5% indicate a stable and
Investment Analysis Report on Majestic Wine Plc
SECTION A
a) Majestic Wine is the UK’s biggest retailer specialising in sales of wines by the mixed case (About Majestic, 2011). The company was established in 1980 (About Majestic, 2011). It has 166 stores in the UK and has opened stores in France also (About Majestic, 2011). It also has an online presence to generate sales.
The company’s strategy is built around delivering a high standard of customer service by trained staff (Majestic annual report 2011, 2011, p. 3). All retail staffs are required to take the Wine and Spirit Education Trust’s advanced certificate after about six months in the company (Our Staff, 2011).
b) Majestic Wine is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), London Stock Exchange’s dedicated market for smaller and growing companies. This allowed Majestic Wines to raise capital by issuing shares to the public yet face lower regulatory pressures and expenses as would have been the case if it was listed on the main stock exchange (AIM, 2010, p. 5). It can be argued that Majestic’s market capitalisation is high enough for it to move to the main exchange but it will result in higher regulatory expenses which a growing company like Majestic would rather avoid to save capital for expansion.
c) The table below shows company’s financial performance over the last 5 years. Revenues increased every year although growth was higher in the last two years. The company managed to grow sales during the year ended March 2009 because of acquisition of a French wine company.
The pre-tax profits and net profits also increased every year except for the year ended March 2009. The significant decline in profits in 2009 was due to poor economic environment and high write-down on the goodwill value of French business (Majestic annual report 2009, 2009, p. 3). The pre-tax profit margins of around 8% and net profit margins of 5.5% indicate a stable and
References: About Majestic, 2011. About Majestic. [Online] Majestic Wine plc. Available from: http://www.majestic.co.uk/About [cited 6th October 2011] AIM, 2010 Arnold, G., 2008. Corporate Financial Management. 4th edn, Pearson Education Limited. Fernandez, P., and Campo, J., 2010. Market Risk Premium used in 2010 by Professors: a survey with 1,500 answers. Working paper, 15 May 2010. FT bonds, 2011. Bonds – Benchmark government. [Online] Financial Times. Available from: http://markets.ft.com/RESEARCH/markets/DataArchiveFetchReport?Category=BR&Type=GOV&Date=10/24/2011 [cited 25th October 2011] FTSE 100 historical prices, 2011 Historical share price, 2011. Historical Prices. [Online] Yahoo! Finance. Available from: http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=MJW.L [cited 25th October 2011] Majestic annual report 2007, 2007 Majestic annual report 2009, 2009. Annual Report & Accounts 2009. [Online] Majestic Wine plc. Available from: http://maj-cms.snowvalley.com/upload/pdfs/Investors/results2009.pdf [cited 24th October 2011] Majestic annual report 2011, 2011 Our staff, 2011. Our Staff. [Online] Majestic Wine. Available from: http://www.majestic.co.uk/About/Staff [cited 24th October 2011] Preliminary results, 2011 Voting rights, 2011. Voting rights and capital [Online] Majestic Wine plc. Available from: http://www.majestic.co.uk/About/Investors/News/News111004 [cited 25th October 2011] [->0] - http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5eFTSE