Accounting and Mangerial Finance for JD Sports Fashion Plc

Contents

Introduction. 2

Review of annual reports. 2

1. a) About Company. 2
2. b) Key financial ratios. 4
3. Liquidity ratios: 4
4. Profitability ratios: 6
5. Efficiency ratios: 7
6. Investment Ratios: 9
7. Gearing ratio. 9
8. c) Trend analysis. 10
9. d) Vertical analysis and other details. 14

Project analysis. 17

Executive summary. 17

1. a) Net present value. 17
2. b) Adjusted present value. 18
3. c) Weighted Average Cost of capital 19
4. d) Critical evaluation. 20

Conclusion and recommendations. 21

References. 22

Appendix. 24

Financial statements for 2018, 2019 and 2020. 24

Introduction

Every company has to report its operations and profitability in its annual statement which is generally prepared at the end of the financial year. These financial statements include:

• Income statement which represents the various sources of incomes and expenditures of the business and depicts whether a business is making a profit or loss,
• The cash flow statement describes the various sources of cash inflows in the business and the cash outflows from the business. Operational activities, investment activities, and financing activities are generally considered while preparation of the cash flow statement,
• The position statement talks about the assets and liabilities of the business. Assets represent the companies claims and liabilities are the claims of outsiders from the company. The position statement also talks about the equity or the share capital of the company.

In this report, JD Sports Fashion Plc’s consolidated financial statements for the year 2018,2019 and 2020 will be analyzed. The position statement and income statement of JD Sports Fashion PLC are considered for this analysis.

Review of annual reports

a)     About Company

JD Sports Fashion PLC is a famous sports retailer, which is a British Sports Company and deals in fashion Sports. It was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Bury, England. It had its business spread all over the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, Australia, and across Asia. It is a subsidiary company to Pentland group. JD Sports Fashion PLC has a number of retail stores across the world and people like to visit these stores to buy their favorite sports brand clothes, shoes, and accessories. It has a number of famous and well-liked sports brands such as Nike, Puma, Adidas through its retail stores. It has also entered the field of gyms and it has its own JD gyms providing fascinating facilities. It has over 2400 retail stores across the world. JD sports continue to work on its quality and expansion in the coming Years by tapping new markets opening up its new retail stores and gyms.

From the chart below, can be observed starting the prices have been fluctuating from the year 2016 to 2020. JD sports seem to perform well as the share prices have increased to above 800 in comparison to its 2016 price which was between 200 to 250. In May 2020, it witnessed a huge slump in the share price which recovered later. This decrease and fluctuations in the share price in 2020 are due to the covid-19. It is also making a detailed plan to manage its supply chain risks and cash crunch due to the covid-19. It is considering the various risks involved and coming up with mitigating activities and strategies.

Figure 1: Share prices of JD sports from 2008 to 2020 (JD Group, 2020)

b)     Key financial ratios

Ratio analysis is an important tool that is used by the management of the company to take various decisions and analyze the financial statement. It establishes a relationship between two components of the financial statements in order to make some decisions. The data presented in financial statements such as the balance sheet and income statement are used by the management for this purpose(Ranjan, 2016). There are different types of rain shows such as liquidity ratios, profitability ratios, efficiency ratios, capital gearing ratios, etc.

1. Liquidity ratios: These ratios are based on the position statement of the company. It revolves around current assets and current liabilities and the main purpose of liquidity ratios is to understand the short-term solvency or liquidity position of the company. The main liquidity ratios are:

• Current ratio: It establishes a link between the current assets of the company and current liabilities. A good measure of current ratio represents two times more assets than the liabilities which means 2:1.

Current Assets/ Current Liabilities

• Quick ratio: It is also famous with the name of acid test ratio and it does not take into account the inventory and prepaid expenses under the current assets. The acceptable norm for the quick ratio has to be an equal proportion of quick Assets and liabilities. It means it has to be 1:1.

Current assets- inventory- prepaid expenses/ current liabilities

• Cash ratio: It is an improvement over the current ratio. The current Ratio considers all the current assets and current liabilities of the company whereas the quick ratio only considered as the most liquid assets which are readily convertible into cash. It considers only cash and cash equivalents under the current assets. An ideal cash ratio should be 0.50:1.

           Bank and cash balance+ marketable securities/ current liabilities

2. Profitability ratios: Every business entity’s purpose for doing the business is to make a profit. The two main components of profit are sales and the cost of the business. Profitability ratios revolve around the sales and cost of the business. It also talks about the investor’s worth by comparing the shareholding and the distributable profits(Saigeetha & Surulivel, 2017). The main profitability ratios are:

• Return on total assets:It develops a relationship between the total assets and profits. This ratio is used to identify if the assets are productive or not.

Net profit/Total assets

• Gross profit ratio: It develops a link between the gross profit of the company and the sales. A higher gross profit ratio indicates the good position of the company and lowers indicates that the company is having more costs involved which needs to be controlled.

Gross profit /Net sales

• Net profit ratio: It helps to identify the efficiency of a business operation and it compares the net sales with the net profits of the company.

Net profit / Net sales

• Operating profit ratio = Operating profit/ Net sales
• Expenses ratio: There are different expenses such as administrative, selling, distribution and financial expenses. This ratio establishesthe relationship of these expenses individually with the net sales.

Particular expense/Net sales

3. Efficiency ratios: These ratios measure the effectiveness of the management in managing the business and these are also known as activity or turnover ratios.The Efficiency of the operations of the business and in managing the different sources of the business is measured through these ratios.

• Inventory turnover ratio = Cost of goods sold/Average inventory
• Inventory turnover period = Days in a year /Inventory turnover ratio
• Debtor turnover ratio = Credit sales/average debtors
• Average collection period = Days in a year/ Debtor turnover ratio
• Creditor turnover ratio = Net credit purchases/Average creditors
• Average payment period = Days in a year/Creditor turnover

All these ratios help to understand if a management is efficient in handling the policies related to the inventory, debtors and creditors of the business or not.

4. Investment Ratios:These ratios help to understand the capability of the company to add worth in the shareholders and financial leverage can also be studied using these ratios.

• Return on shareholders’ funds: It establishes a link between the net profit available to distribute among the shareholders. Net profit after interest and tax is considered in this.

Net profit after interest and taxes/Shareholders funds

• Return on equity: It talks about the profits available for the equity shareholders. Equity shareholders are paid in the end after making payments for the taxes, interest and dividends to the preference shareholders. Therefore, net profit after making adjustments for the taxes, interest payments to the debenture holders and for borrowing and the dividend payments to the preference shareholders is considered(Shreeda & Shah, 2018).

Net profit after taxes, interest and dividend/Equity shareholders

5. Gearing ratio: It is that ratio, which consists of some form of equity in the ratio analysis. It is similar to the debt to equity ratio. It helps to understand the level of leverage used by the business in the company. It is always recommended that some financial leverage or debt should be used to raise funds for having an optimal capital structure.

Total debt or liabilities /Shareholder’s equity

The ratio analysis shows that the company’s liquidity assets are decreasing over the years, which means the company needs to look after its liquidity position. The profitability of the company is also showing a negative impact. The company says it is because of the covid-19 but the covid-19 attacked the world in December 2019 and its impact was seen maximum after the month March worldwide, but the companies 2019 profitability is also showing negative results which means the company is making mistakes in policy and strategy making(Gopinath, 2020).

c)     Trend analysis

From the ratio analysis, it can be observed that the various important figures from the income statement such as sales, operating and non-operating cost, profits are changing from here to here. Also, the figures from the balance sheet such as different types of assets, liabilities, equity, and reserves are changing. In order to know whether this change is going in the right direction or not, trend analysis for the year 2020 in comparison to the year 2019 for the income statement is done.

From the trend analysis, it can be seen that sales have increased, but the cost of sales increased more than the Increase in sales because of which the net profit has decreased by 5.11% in 2020. The selling and distribution expenses and administrative expenses have also shown an increase. The operating income has also increased by more than 100%. There is an increase in the operating profit, but non-operating expenses have increased more than the increase in operating income because of which the overall net profitability has got to impact. In comparison to the industry analysis, the company seems to perform well because due to the covid-19 impact, the supply chain has negatively impacted and sales have also negatively impacted because of the shutdown of the retail stores for a temporary basis in some areas across the world(Yahya et al., 2013).

JD Sports is making use of lease financing in the year 2020 to finance its operations. There is also an increase in equity. There is a decrease in long term loans and borrowing. There is huge money used in the acquisition of plant and property in the year 2020 because of which the non-current assets show a great change in comparison to the previous year. Net current assets have not changed much which means the company needs to work on its working capital maintenance. Overall, the company seems to manage things in such a pandemic in a smart manager in comparison to the industry(Enyi, 2019).

The financial notes depict that the company is impacted by the covid-19. It has to wear different types of rest under the supply chain management because a global supply chain has impacted negatively due to this pandemic. It is also facing a tough time in managing its cash and liquid asset. Company is aware of all of these threats and weaknesses which,according to the company’s temporary and it is making use of various policies and rules to combat this situation.

d)     Vertical analysis and other details

The vertical analysis is used for the consolidated balance sheet in order to understand the decisions made by the company for designing its capital structure. For this purpose, the balance sheet for the year 2020 is considered. The comparison of current and noncurrent assets is done with the total assets and the comparison of current and noncurrent liabilities is done on the basis of total liabilities and equity.

The above vertical analysis shows that the company is not making use of enough debt financing rather a minimal amount of the total liabilities and equity is showing the loans and borrowing of the company. It is making use of equity capital to raise funds. The company has to restructure its capital structure in order to make it optimal because that financing is important to take the advantage of interest deductibility and overall, it will impact the profitability of the company(Yahya et al., 2013). The largest figure under the liability side for the year 2020 for this company is represented by the “lease liabilities”. This shows that the company is making use of lease financing to finance its assets as 55% of the money is invested in the acquisition of plants and machinery in the year 2020 and only 33% of the money is there for the current assets.

The financial notes show that the company is making use of lease liabilities of the property and this decision will help the company to increase its operating profit because the rental charge is being replaced by the company using the leaf liabilities by a less depreciation charge(Mashkour, 2020).

Project analysis

Executive summary

JD sports is a multichain retailer for the famous sports products across the nation and its financial report and director’s views shows that the company is performing really well. However, the analysis of the financial statements shows that the company has some areas of concerns where it needs to put more focus and it is not only due to the COVID-19 because the financial statement analysis of 2019 also shows some concern areas. This company is planning to invest in a new project which is evaluated using various capital budgeting techniques and accordingly the best method of evaluation is suggested to the investment committee.

a)     Net present value

Capital budgeting decisions are important and for this several methods are there. The JD sports has to make a decision about investing in a new project. It is important to evaluate the potential of this project before finally investing in it. For this purpose, the net present value method will be used. The company has decided to make use of 60% of debt financing for this project at 5% interest rate(Kengatharan, 2016). Therefore, the discount rate for the NPV will be considered to be 5%. Free cash flows have to calculated.

Free cash flows= Cash from operations – Capex

The cash from operations is given and represented by earnings before interest, tax and depreciation on assets (EBITDA).

The Initial cash outlay is $20m and the NPV can be calculated by deducting the outlay from the present value of cash flows.

NPV= 48.99-20 = 28.99

The project is giving a positive NPV, which means, it should choose this project. The new project is showing potential to earn profits in the coming future and should be considered by the company for investment purpose on the basis of NPV evaluation(Zizlavsky, 2014).

b)     Adjusted present value

Adjusted present value makes some adjustments in the net present value and is a very useful measure of making capital budgeting decisions when it comes to the firm using debt financing. JD Sports have decided to make use of 60% debt financing for this new project and this adjusted present value method will help the company to consider the effects of Dead in terms of interest adaptability.

Adjusted Present Value = Unlevered Firm Value + Net effect of debt

The Unlevered Firm Value represents the value of the company when the company is only making use of equity share capital to raise the funds and not using debt financing. Adjusted present value helps to understand the Unlevered Firm Value and the net effect of using the debt financing on the Unlevered Firm Value. It helps you understand if debt financing is proving beneficial for the company or not. In order to invest in the new project, the company required 20m, and 60% of this amount which becomes 14m will be financed through the issue of debentures or through loans and borrowings. This decision of the company is valid and useful because the company is having a corporate tax rate of 19 %, which is high and the cost of debt financing is 5% whereas the cost of raising the money through issuing of share capital is expensive(Pirogova et al., 2019). Also, debt financing helps the company to enjoy the benefit of interest deductibility, which reduces the tax liability of the company and as a result, the overall profitability of the company improves. Therefore, the company should make use of the adjusted present value method in this regard. The Unlevered beta is also high which is 1.77. This represents the risk which the company has to face by raising the funds through the use of share capital instead of debt financing.

c)     Weighted Average Cost of capital

The weighted average cost of capital method helps to understand the proportionate number of sources of funds with respect to the cost of raising the funds. The JD sports have decided to make use of 40%, which means 8M from the issuing of share capital and 12 M from the issuing of debentures by taking the loans of borrowings. It has taken this decision to take the advantage of financial leverage in terms of reduction of debt due to interest deductible as an expense from the income statement of the company(Rehman & Raoof, 2010). The following formula can be used in order to calculate the weighted average cost of capital:

WACC= (E/V* cost of equity) + (E/V* cost of debt) *1-tax rate

E in this formula represents the market value of firm equity and V represents the market value of debt of the firm(Alomar & Al-Okdeh, 2020).

This method is a comparatively simple and easy to use method value of the new project. The WACC is used as a discount rate and it is more practical to evaluate the project using this hurdle rate because it considers the fact that both equity and debt are being used in the company whereas the net present value is based on the assumption that there is only one discount rate. For example, a 5% discount rate is considered in the calculation of Net present value because the company is making use of more debt financing. The WACC will help to take the average of the cost of equity, cost of debt, and also it considers the tax rate, which in this case is 19%(Jory et al., 2016).

d)     Critical evaluation

The net present value helps to consider the time value of the money, but it does not consider the opportunity cost or the hidden cost involved in the process. It also does not consider the tax and depreciation amount while calculating the free cash flows. On the other hand, the adjusted net present value is an improvement over the net present value method because it considers the impact of using debt by the company(Meunier & Quinet, 2014). The WACC method considers the cost of each source of raising funds such as equity, debt, and it also considers the tax. The WACC is used as a hurdle rate for the calculation of Net present value. This rate is more practical to use to calculate the net present value of the project because it considers the different weights of sources of funds and the taxable amount. Therefore, it is recommended to the investment committee that the weighted average cost of capital rate should be used to calculate the net present value(Ramesh & Balasundaram, 2011).

 Conclusion and recommendations

The analysis of the financial statements of DD Sports for all three years shows that the company needs to make some alterations in the decision-making and it needs to come up with strategies to conserve the cash resources for emergency situations. The liquidity position of the company is also deteriorating over the years, which means it has to keep in liquid assets which are cash or cash equivalents. For this, it should try to improve its cash ratio. The company is investing a huge amount of money in the plant and machinery and it is not making use of loans and borrowing for this purpose because the loans and borrowing in the balance sheet show a decrease. Instead, what is making use of lease financing considering it as a cheaper source. But it is not advisable to be majorly dependent on only one source. It should use off loans and borrowing, lease financing, and issuing of share capital in order to trade off the risk.

Overall, the analysis of the financial statements shows that the company should continue for its expansion and reaching to more and more people through opening up of retail stores, but at the same time, it has to make an extensive investment in the online segment of the business because the covid-19 have changed the ways people do shopping.

References

Alomar, M. & Al-Okdeh, S., 2020. The Effect of Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) on Financial Performance. 29(6).

Enyi, P., 2019. Relational Trend Analysis: A Simple and Effective Way To Detect Financial Statements Fraud. International Journal of Scientific and Research, 9(2), pp.1-9.

Gopinath, P., 2020. A study on impact of covid-19 on the consumers’ buying behaviour in indian retail indusry- with special reference to Coimbatore city. Indian Journal of Marketing, 9(5), pp.1-14.

JD Group, 2020. Share Price – JD Sports Fashion Plc. [Online] Available at: https://www.jdplc.com/share-price.

Jory, S., Benamraoui, A. & Boojihawon, D., 2016. Net present value analysis and the wealth creation process: a case illustration.

Kengatharan, L., 2016. Capital Budgeting Theory and Practice: A Review and Agenda for Future Research. 3(2).

Mashkour, S., 2020. Analysis of financial statements.

Meunier, D. & Quinet, E., 2014. Project Appraisal and Long Term Strategic Vision. 1(1), pp.67-76.

Pirogova, O., Gorin, E. & Plotnikov, V., 2019. The algorithms for the environmental finance based on adjusted present value models. 91(2).

Ramesh, S. & Balasundaram, N., 2011. Capital Budgeting Practices: A Study of Companies Listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange Sri Lanka.

Ranjan, W., 2016. The Financial Performance Analysis of Nike Inc: with Special Reference Year 2015 Annual Report.

Rehman, R. & Raoof, A., 2010. Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) traditional vs new approach for calculating the value of firm.

Saigeetha, S. & Surulivel, S., 2017. A study on financial performance using ratio analysis of bhel, trichy. International Journal of Innovative Research in Management Studies (IJIRMS), 2(3), pp.31-39.

Shreeda, S. & Shah, V., 2018. A Study On Financial Performance Using Ratio Analysis of Visa Steel Limited final.

Yahya, F., Ali, S. & Mir, Z., 2013. Significant Analysis for Financial Statements: An Empirical Study of National and Unilever Foods.

Yahya, F., Mir, Z. & Khan, U., 2013. Significant Analysis for Financial Statements: An Empirical Study of National and Unilever Foods. Research Journal of Finance and Accounting, 4(1), pp.1-10.

Zizlavsky, O., 2014. Net Present Value Approach: Method for Economic Assessment of Innovation Projects.

 Appendix

Financial statements for 2018,2019 and 2020

Figure 2: Consolidated income statement for 2018 and 2017

Figure 3: Consolidated Balance sheet for 2018 and 2017

Figure 4: Consolidated income statement for 2018 and 2019

Figure 5: Consolidated Balance sheet for 2018 and 2019

Figure 6: Consolidated income statement for 2019 and 2020

Figure 7: Consolidated Balance sheet for 2020 and 2019