Analysis and Investigation

Write a business report analysing and discussing the Working Capital Management of three businesses listed on The London Stock Exchange from three different sectors. This should be achieved by calculating “Operating Cash Cycle (OCC)” of these businesses. You should evaluate the results by comparison between your companies and research into the possible reasons for differences (if any). Your discussion should make references to the related theories on working capital management and operating cash cycle. The data you use must be post 2014 (Jan 2015 Onwards) which means you use only those companies who have published their 2015 financial statements.

In this particular report the overall operating cash cycle as well as the liquidity ratio of the companies have been accustomed so as to measure the overall inventory as well as the collection feasibility as well as the overall cash liquidity for the financial year 2014 and 2015. Here the companies are selected from United Kingdom and they are enlisted in the London Stock Exchange. All the companies are from different market domains accomplished their business in their respective fields so as to justify the resemblance according to the perspectives of achieving higher return in the long run. Here the aims of the projects has been determined to understand the financial obligations for the company Tesco Plc from retail market of United Kingdom, British Petroleum from oil and gas industry of United Kingdom, and lastly Coca Cola from the domain of beverages (Walsh, 2013). Here in this particular report the overall data have been accustomed from the respective sources and the financial reports for the financial year 2014 and 2015 so as to justify the methods of financial feasibility. Apart from this, the overall data regarding the cash operating cycle as well as the liquidity of the three companies have been accustomed. The liquidity as well as the operating cash cycle can be determined through the aspects of working capital management, and by these circumstances, it can be assessed that how the company is maintaining the working capital efficiency for the financial year 2014 and 2015.

The overall analysis has been accustomed from the perspectives of calculating the operating cash cycle and the liquidity ratio of the company for the financial year 2014 and 2015. The operating cash cycle of the company can be determined from the point of view of the working capital management that the efficiency of the firm has been accustomed so as to maintain the inventory purchased and the sales made to the respective customers. Operating cycle can also be regarded as the time period when the total cash amount has been paid when the receipts regarding the cash has been made. The overall operating cycle as well as the cash cycle has played a vital role in determining the working capital of their respective firms that have been analyzed for the financial year 2014 and 2015.

Liquidity Ratio

Working cycle alludes to the deferral between the purchasing of crude materials and the receipt of money from deals continues. At the end of the day, working cycle alludes to the quantity of days taken for the change of money to stock through the transformation of records receivable to cash. It demonstrates towards the time period for which trade is locked in and out stock and records receivable. On the off chance that a working cycle is long, then there is lower openness to money for fulfilling liabilities for the short term. Operating cycle mulls over the accompanying components: creditor liabilities, money, records of sales, and stock substitution (Ramamoorthy, 2014).

The overall operating cycle can be calculated from the different perspectives that are follows:

Working cycle = time of stock + gathering period

Here,

Time of Stock (in days) = Stock / (Expense of Offers/365) = 365 / Stock Turnover

Gathering Period (in days) = Receivables / (Deals/365) = 365 / Receivables Turnover

Money Cycle:

Money cycle is additionally termed as net working cycle, resource change cycle, working capital cycle or money transformation cycle. Trade cycle is actualized out the money related evaluation of a business undertaking. The more the figure is expanded, the higher is the period for which the money of a business substance is occupied with business exercises and is out of reach for different capacities, for occasion speculations. The overall progression has been determined according to the purpose of controlling the basic approaches that can be act as the reserves of the company that have been discussed here.

The money cycle is deciphered as the quantity of days between the instalment for inputs and getting money by offers of items produced from that data. The data has been acquired fro the two financial years so as to suffice the overall discussions as it will significantly express the normal perception of how the money has been operated so as to induce higher margin of profits. Thus from this particular situation it can be allocated that the purpose of controlling the operating cash it can be justified with the respective cash position which in turn will help to accustom the aspects of controlling the assets.

Apart from this, the overall Liquidity proportions are a class of money related measurements used to decide an organization’s capacity to pay off its short-terms obligations commitments. By and large, the higher the estimation of the proportion, the bigger the edge of security that the organization has to cover transient obligations.

Current Ratio

Normal liquidity proportions incorporate the present proportion, the fast proportion and the working income proportion. Distinctive experts consider diverse advantages for be important in ascertaining liquidity. A few examiners will ascertain just the whole of money and counterparts isolated by current liabilities since they feel that they are the most fluid resources, and would be the well on the way to be utilized to cover transient obligations in a crisis.

An organization’s capacity to transform transient resources into money to cover obligations is absolutely critical when loan bosses are looking for instalment experts and home loan originators as often as possible utilize the liquidity proportions to figure out if an organization will have the capacity to proceed as a going concern. Testing an organization’s liquidity is a fundamental stride in investigating an organization. From these aspects here, the overall asset performance of the companies has been generated. It will help to assess the optimistic evaluation of the working capital that will positively suffice the operations to uphold the purpose of delivering the resources for the company in the long run (Beranek, 2014).

Thus, the investigation of the respective operating cash cycle as well as the liquidity, margin has been accustomed so as to justify the feasibility of the company Tesco Plc, British Petroleum and Coca Cola.

From the respective report, the calculation has been made are as follows:

Liquidity Ratio:

Liquidity ratio can be determined to ascertain the actual cash reserves of the company. Here in this particular report, the liquidity ratio have been accustomed by Current Ratio and Quick Ratio, for the financial year 2014 and 2015 for the respective companies Tesco Plc, British petroleum and Coca Cola.

Current Ratio:

Current ratio of the company measures the excess value of the asset of the company in the respective financial year so as to adjust the financial performance upon the current liability.

The formula of Current Ratio is = Current Asset / Current Liability

Current Ratio of Tesco Plc:

Current Ratio of British Petroleum:

Current Ratio of Coca Cola:

Quick Ratio:

The actual cash balance of the company can be easily determined from the aspects of the quick ratio. In this particular report, the overall quick ratio has been calculated for the company Tesco Plc, British Petroleum and Coca cola.

The formula for calculating the Quick Ratio is = (Current Asset – Inventory) / (Current Liability – Bank O/D)

Quick Ratio

The quick Ratio of Tesco Plc:

The Quick Ratio of British Petroleum:

The quick Ratio of Coca Cola:

Operating Cash Cycle:

The operating cash cycle denotes the aspect of cash holding capacity of the company in a particular financial year so as to justify the operation of total cash upholded from the period of purchasing the raw materials and collection received after selling those materials.

The formula of Operating cash cycle is = (Inventory Period + Receivables Period – Payables Period)

Operating cash cycle for Tesco Plc:

Operating cash cycle for British Petroleum:

Operating cash cycle for Coca Cola:

Here in this particular area the overall discussion regarding the current ratio of all the companies has been endeavoured so as to understand the liquidity position of the company for the financial year 2014 and 2015.

Current Ratio:

From the respective graphs and charts portrayed above for the company Tesco Plc, British Petroleum, and Coca cola, it can showcased that the current ratio of each and every company is not so much better as per the accounting standards. As per the accounting standard, it can be said that the normal current ratio of any company should be higher than 1.5 or 2:1 from the current liability proportion. It is then regarded as a health financial corporation with good liquidity position. But in the mean time, the instances provided from the calculation it can be said that Tesco Plc, a retail company has secured 0.73 points in current ratio in the financial year 2014 and 0.60 in the financial year 2015. Thus it can be said that the liquidity position of the company is too much lower to suffice the business operation flexibly. Apart from this the company has also secured a lower current ratio in the financial year 2015 than in the financial year 2014 which is not as much better for a retail company to ascertain higher return in the upcoming financial years. As per the calculation regarding the company British Petroleum, it can be justified that   the company has also secured a minimum current ratio, which depicts a lower liquidity position in the financial year 2015 and also in the upcoming financial years. Though the oil and gas sector in United Kingdom is growing faster, it can be said that the company is attaining lower returns and may be it will fetch higher proportions in the upcoming years. As per the operations covered in the beverages industry, Coca Cola is attaining its growth and securing its liquidity for the upcoming years and it will be beneficial for the company to achieve higher return for the financial year 2015 and also in the future.

Quick Ratio:

As per the aspects of the quick ratio, it is quite similar to say for every company that the cash position has to be strengthening as for the retail giants Tesco Plc it is not so much better for the respective financial year. For the company Coca Cola, it can be said that the company has higher cash position with better working capital efficiency than the other two industry compared to the respective domain that the companies are operating. The giants of the oil and gas industry, British Petroleum have generated the aspects of lower liquidity and it has to increase its operation by attaining the respective purpose so as to gain the positive cash balance in the financial year.

Operating Cash Cycle:

The respective calculation has helped to find out the actual cash operating cycle of the three firms that has depicted the financial performance in securing the overall financial feasibility for the financial year 2014 and 2015. As per the data provided, from the respective resources, it can be embraced that the working capital efficiency of the entire firm is lower in the financial year 2015. Thus from this particular standpoint it can be said that the normal duration of inventory holding period is taking a long time to sale the goods and the collection of the goods are also taking more duration for achieving higher returns. Thus from the represented graphs and chart sit can be accustomed that the cash operating cycle of every company is 4 to 3 days but for the instance, to acquire more profitability, the companies should bring it down to 2 days so as to achieve flexibility in working capital efficiency. This will generate higher return in the current financial year and also in the respective future period.

Conclusion:

Thus from the overall analysis it can be concluded that the working capital management as well as efficiency of the company Coca Cola is better than that of the other two companies as it has a better approach of liquidity and also cash operating cycle so as to attain higher returns (Howorth, 2015). Thus, it can be said that, to attain higher returns, the company should induce higher liquidity with proper working capital management in the long run.

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