Profitability analysis of mergers and acquisitions

Question: Discuss about the Profitability analysis of mergers and acquisitions. Answer: Company and Market Details Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad is a media and entertainment Company operates in the regions of Malaysia. More specifically, it can be said that Astro Malaysia Holdings is a Malaysian and ASEAN consumer and content company (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). In the recent years, the company has taken strong commitment towards becoming a technology-driven business organization in the TV, digital, e-commerce and radio space. The company was established in the year of 1996 and it is headquartered at Technology Park Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The main products of the company are pay television, broadcasting and publishing. Astro Malaysia Holdings has a customer base of 5.8 million that is considered as the 71% of the total household of Malaysia. The company offers vast range of media and entertainment spanning across different digital media, television, radio and home shopping to almost 21 million individuals (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). The major value propositions of Astro Malaysia Holdings includes the broadcast of 188 TV channels via DTH Satellite TV, OTT and IPTV platforms; among all these, 60 includes in the brand of Astro and 72 are HD. Apart from this, the company also offers various other services like HD, PVR, OD, IPTV and many others. In this context, it needs to be mentioned that the main aim of the company is to originate and create excellent content for consumption in the different regions of Malaysia. Astro Malaysia Holdings has won different awards for their different products and services. The company has won Gold Award in the category of media and entertainment of the Putra Brand Awards for the last six years. Apart from this, the company has also won Brand of the Year award and Brand Icon award in the year 2012 and 2013 respectively (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). The mass media and entertainment industry of Malaysia is considered as a major industry of the company as it contributes significantly towards the economic development of the country. The government of Malaysia and the ruling political party control the mass media and entertainment industry. Thus, all the mass media and entertainment companies of Malaysia need to acquire business license from the government of the company and the licenses are required to be renewed at regular period (factsanddetails.com 2018). In most of the cases, the mainstream mass media is pro-government. Most importantly, the media and entertainment industry of Malaysia is subject to various legal restrictions. In 1998, the implementation of Communications and Multimedia Act liberalized acceptable broadcast content. In this context, it needs to be mentioned that various acts like media and press acts, Internal Security Acts, Control and Import Acts and others provide the authority to the government of Malaysia t o put ban on imported and domestic materials in the country. Thus, from the above discussion, it can be seen that the Malaysian mass media industry is sensitive of various legal restrictions that hampers the business of the mass media companies in the country to some extent (pressreference.com 2018). Industry Dynamics and Drivers of Change Industry dynamics refer to the certain means and processes through which changes come in a particular industry over a period of time with the help of various processes and evolutions. It needs to be mentioned that the mass media and entertainment industry of Malaysia is going through some major changes due to the advancements of technology and various others reasons. Thus, it can be observed that there has been a transformation in the mass media and entertainment industry of Malaysia from old media to new media (Zavyalova et al. 2012). In the recent years, it can be observed that the new advanced technology based mass media and entertainment is challenging the old mass media and entertainment industry. After observing the mass media and entertainment industry of Malaysia, it can clearly be seen that there has been many changes in this industry and some major factors are responsible for this change. Thus, these factors are known as Drivers of Change. In the mass media and entertainmen t industry of Malaysia, the existence of some major drivers of change can be seen. It is required for the mass media and entertainment companies in Malaysia to consider these drivers of changes. They are discussed in the following discussion (Kotabe and Helsen 2014). There are four major drivers of change having effects on the business operations of Astro Malaysia Holdings; they are Consumer Behavior, Regulatory Changes, Technological Changes and the Effects of different Macroeconomic Conditions. The following discussing shows how these drivers of change affect the business operations of Astro Malaysia Holdings. Consumer Behavior: The behavior of consumers towards the products and services of the company is a major driver of change (Solomon, Russell-Bennett and Previte 2012). Consumer behavior include various aspects like the willingness to make payment for a product or service, their preferences related to various contents of media, level of interactivity with the company, privacy, genre and many others. It can be seen that all these aspects have large impact on the business model of Astro Malaysia Holding along with their media services, prices, profit margin and others. For example, the consumers of Malaysia have become fond of the e-media; and based on this particular preference of the consumers, Astro Malaysia Holdings has had to change their business model (Schtte and Ciarlante 2016). Regulatory Changes: As per the earlier discussion, the mass media and entertainment industry of Malaysia has to comply with various legislative regulations and all these aspects affect the business operations of Astro Malaysia Holdings (Keane and Donald 2014). This particular driver of change includes various aspects like privacy regulation, net neutrality, various antitrust enforcements, copyright enforcement, censorship, regulations related to advertisement, universal broadcasting regulations and many others. All these aspects have negative impact on the profitability of the company as the company needs to comply with all these legislative regulations. In addition, frequent changes can be seen in the legal regulations and it is difficult for Astro Malaysia Holdings to change the compliance with these regulations on time-to-time basis. Thus, it is considered as a major driver of change for Astro Malaysia Holdings (Pepinsky 2013). Technological Changes: Technological change is considered as one of the major drivers of change having impact on the business operations of Astro Malaysia Holdings. This driver of change includes some major aspects like ultra HD television, flexible screens, semantic analysis, advanced technology of power system, ultra broadband services and many others (Jomo 2013). For this reason, it is required for the company to update themselves with the latest technology in order to stay in the market. This process affects the profitability of Astro Malaysia Holdings as the company has to incur large amount of costs while implementing these advance technological aspects. At the same time, this also brings positive changes in the company as the company has become able to increase their revenue (Hashim 2015). Macroeconomics Conditions: This is also considered as a major driver of change. The major factors of this driver are recession, balance of trade, price of commodity, supply, demand and many others. These factors are considered as less predictable; but at the same time, they have drastic impact on the business organizations of the company (Nor, Ibrahim and Rashid 2013). Evaluation of Financial Performance Evaluation of financial performance of the business organizations indicates towards the overall financial condition of the businesses over the years. The evaluation of financial performance is a useful tool for the investors as they can make investment decisions by analyzing the trend of financial performance of the companies (Brigham and Houston 2012). There is not any exception of this fact in case of Astro Malaysia Holdings. The following discussion shows the evaluation of the financial performance of the company by analyzing the profitability, liquidity, efficiency, debt position of the company along with the analysis of investors return. Profitability Analysis Gross Profit Ratio Gross Profit ratio is regarded as a major tool for the profitability analysis of the companies as indicates the efficiency of the companies in the production and selling of the products. More specifically, this ratio shows how profitable the products or the services are (Dilshad 2013). From the above graph, it can be seen that Astro Malaysia Holdings has 38.33% and 38.34% as gross profit margin in the year 2017 and 2016 . It implies that for every RM of Astro Malaysia Holdings generates, the company earns 38.33% and 38.34% in profit before the payment of other business expenses (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). The above graph shows that there have been fluctuations in this gross profit margin over the five years as 2015 and 2014 witnessed decline in the gross profit. It needs to be mentioned that the main reason behind this fluctuation in gross profit margin is the decline in sales of Astro Malaysia Holdings. It is evident from the financial statements of the company that there has bee n decline in sales in 2015 and 2014 that affected the gross profit margin. Thus, for Astro Malaysia Holdings, some of the major ways to improve their gross profit margin are th increase in sales, increase in the price, less discounting and less competition in price. Net Profit Ratio Another major profitability measurement tool is the analysis of Net Profit ratio as it directly measures the percentage of sales is made up of net income. Most importantly, it also measures the efficiency of the companies in the management of expenses related to the net sales (Hilton and Platt 2013). The above graph shows that the net profit margin of Astro Malaysia Holdings in 2017 and 2017 is improved than 2015, 2014 and 2013. However, in 2017 and 2016, the company has only been able to convert 10.99% and 11.10% of sales in profit respectively that is not good for a large corporation (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). It needs to be mentioned that there is a positive connection between gross profit margin and the net profit margin as the decline in gross profit margin has lowered the net profit margin of the company. In addition, decrease in sales value along with selling price is also responsible for the decline in net profit ration for Astro Malaysia Holdings over the five years. Thu s, some of the major ways for the company to increase their net profit margin are the increase in sales and decrease in labor as well as operation costs. Liquidity Position Analysis Times Interest Earned Ratio The times interest earned ratio is also known as interest coverage ratio and it is used to measure the proportionate of income that can be use for the payment of interest expenses. More specifically, the analysis of this ratio indicates that how many times the company can pay the interest before income tax (Kirkham 2012.). From the above graph, it can be seen that there has been a continuous improvements in this particular ration for Astro Malaysia Holdings (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). In this context, it need to be mentioned that the higher time interest earned ratio is favorable for the liquidity position of the companies. It can be seen that Astro Malaysia Holdings has this ratio of over 4 and it indicates that the income of the company is 4 times higher than its interest expenses for that year. It needs to be mentioned that the company has been managing their debts in an effective way that leads to the improvement in this ratio. However, Astro Malaysia Holdings has still scope to improve this ratio further. Some of the major ways for improving this ratio are increase in the revenue, increase in the total profitability margin and others. Quick Ratio Business organizations regard Quick Ratio as a major tool to measure the liquidity of their business. More specifically, it helps in measuring the ability of the companies to pay their current liabilities in a quick manner. A quick ratio of 2 indicates that the company has twice many assets as their current liabilities (Holden, Jacobsen and Subrahmanyam, 2014). From the above graph, it can be observed that there is a decreasing trend in the quick ratio of Astro Malaysia Holdings from 2013 2017 and it shows the inefficient liquidity position of the company. In 2017 and 2016, the company has 0.74 and 0.91 quick ration and it indicates that the company has more current liabilities than their current assets and the company has to sell some of their fixed assets to pay all of their current liabilities (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). It need to be mentioned that the main reason behind this weak quick ratio is the lack of quick assets like cash and accounts receivable to the company. Thus, s ome of the major ways for Astro Malaysia Holdings to improve quick ratio are elimination of unproductive assets, decrease in the days of accounts receivable and timely review of the profitability along with overheads of the company. Efficiency Analysis Working Capital Ratio It is essential to analyze the financial efficacy of the business organizations and thus, working capital ratio is regarded as one of the major tools for measuring the financial efficiency. The analysis of the working capital ratio indicates the ability of the business organizations to pay off their current liabilities with their current assets (Higgins 2012). From the above graph, it can be observed that there has been declining trend in the working capital ratio for Astro Malaysia Holdings. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, this ratio was good as the amount of current assets was more than the amount of current liabilities. However, in 2016 and 2017, the ratio has become less than 1 that is 0.92 and 0.75 respectively (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). It implies that that now the company has more current liabilities than current assets and they need to sell some of their assets to pay off the current liabilities. It needs to be mentioned that increase in the debt position of the company is the ma in reason or the decrease in this ratio and there is a need for improvement in this ratio. Some of the major ways to bring improvement in this ratio are the sweep accounts for the transfer of funds, paying off the current liabilities and others. Inventory Turnover ratio Another major tool for measuring the efficiency of the companies is the analysis of inventory turnover ratio as it shows the companys ability to effectively manage the business inventory by comparing the cost of goods sold with the average inventory (Chortareas, Girardone and Ventouri 2013). From the above graph, it can be seen that there has been fluctuations in the inventory turnover ratio of Astro Malaysia Holdings. It can be seen that from 2015 to 2017, there has been decline in the inventory turnover ratio of the company. 169.1 as inventory turnover ratio in 2017 implies that Astro Malaysia Holdings has sold all of their inventory for 169 in the year. It is a good aspect for the company, but this ratio was better in 2016, 2015 and 2013 (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). The main reason attributed towards the low inventory turnover is the holding of inventory for too long period. Thus, it can be seen that there is a scope for improvement for Astro Malaysia Holdings. The major ways to improve the inventory turnover ratio adoption of automation system, reduction of costs, increase the demand for inventory, revise in the pricing strategy, elimination of the stagnant inventory, optimization of supply chain, effective financial forecasting, save in inventory time and others. Capital Structure Analysis Debt Ratio Capital structure refers to the distribution of debt and equity for making up the capital requirement of the companies. In case of capital structure, one major tool for the companies is the analysis of debt ratio as it measures the total percentage of debts/liabilities of total assets (Robb and Robinson 2014). From the above graph, it can be seen that there has not been much fluctuation in the debt ratio of Astro Malaysia Holdings. It can be observed that from 2013 to 2017, the debt ratio has been around 0.90 and it is a good sign for the capital structure for Astro Malaysia Holdings (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). It implies that Astro Malaysia Holdings has the ability to pay off all of their debts with their total assets. The main reason attributes towards the low debt ratio is the less dependency of the company on dents in the capital structure. Some of the major ways for Astro Malaysia Holdings to further improve their debt ratio are the issue of additional shares, adoption of the strategy of debt and equity, lease assets, increases in the total amount of sales and many others. Astro Malaysia Holdings will be able to improve their debt ratio with the adoption of these strategies. Debt to Equity Ratio Debt to equity ratio is considered as another major tool for analyzing the capital structure of the companies. This ration shows the percentage of the financing of the companies coming from creditors and investors. In this context, it needs to be mentioned that a higher debt to equity ratio indicates the presence of more credit financing than the investor financing (Jain, Singh and Yadav 2013). From the above graph, it can be observed that Astro Malaysia Holdings has higher debt to equity ratio and there have been fluctuations in this particular ratio. It can be seen that there is a decrease in this ratio in 2017 from 2016 (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). The main reason for the higher debt to equity ratio is the presence of creditors in the capital structure. It also implies that the investors are not interested in investing in this company as the company has not been performing well. The presence of high amount of debts increases the business risk of Astro Malaysia Holdings as the co mpany has to pay high amount of interest expenses on the debts. Some of the major remedial actions for Astro Malaysia Holdings are increase in profitable sales, review of inventory on timely basis, reduction in the dependency on debts, selling the assets and others. Investor Return Analysis Return on Equity (ROE) Return on equity ratio helps in the measurement of the ability of the business organizations in getting profit from the investment of the shareholders. More specifically, this ration shows how much profit each RM of common shareholders equity generates (Heikal, Khaddafi and Ummah 2014). From the above graph, it can be seen that Astro Malaysia Holdings has ROE less than 1 over the period of five years from 2013 to 2017. In 2017 and 2016, the ROE was 0.99 and 1.00 and it implies that there has not been either rise or decline in the return on the shareholders investment (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). However, the analysis of the trend of ROE over 5 years shows that the shareholders have failed to get return from their equity investment. This particular situation shows the inability of Astro Malaysia Holdings to provide return on the investment of the equity shareholders. Thus, it is required for the company to take remedial actions against this situation. Some of the suggested ways to i mprove ROE are exhaustion of business, growth in equity, ensure stability in the business, incorporating effective planning and others. Earnings per Share (EPS) Earning per share is considered as a major ratio to measure the amount of net income earned per share of stock outstanding. More specifically, it can be said that the EPS is the amount of money that the shareholders should receive in case the earned profit of the company is distributed among the outstanding shareholders. It needs to be mentioned that there is a positive connection between ROE and EPS (Driessen, Lin and Phalippou 2012). From the above graph, it can be observed that Astro Malaysia Holdings has very low EPS over the period of five years (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). From the observation of the EPS of Astro Malaysia Holdings over five years, it can be seen that the company has failed to provide the equity investors with any positive return in their equity investment. It needs to be mention that the main reason behind the low EPS is the reduction in the profitability of the company. In addition, negative price earnings ratio is another reason for low EPS for Astro Malays ia Holdings. Thus, it is required for the company to take remedial actions to revive this situation; they are ensure growth in revenue, expansion in the profit margin, financial engineering and others as all these aspects are essential for ensuring the growth in EPS. Analysis of Cash Flows In the accounting process of the companies, the statement of cash flow is considered as a major aspect as it shows how the changes in balance sheet and income statements affects the cash and cash equivalent of the business organizations. It can be seen that there are there are three parts in the cash flows; they are cash flow from operating activities, cash from investing activities and cash flow from financing activities. There is not any exception of this fact in case of the cash flows of Astro Malaysia Holdings. The following discussion shows the analysis of cash flow statements of Astro Malaysia Holdings from 2013 to 2017: Operating Activities: Cash flow from operating activities comprises of net income, noncash expenses and the changes in working capital. From the analysis of the cash flow of Astro Malaysia Holdings, it can be seen that the company has positive cash flow from operating in 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2013. However, the company ahs negative cash flow in 2014 (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). This is the positive sign as the company has been able to generate cash flow from their business operations. It also indicates that Astro Malaysia Holdings is growing in a perfect pace (Call, Chen and Tong 2013). Investing Activities: Cash flow from investing activities shows the total amount of sales and purchase of companys capital assets. From the analysis of the cash flow statements of Astro Malaysia Holdings over five years, it can be seen that the company has negative cash flow investing activities (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). In this aspect, it needs to be mentioned that negative cash flow from investing activities is a positive sign for the companies. In case of Astro Malaysia Holdings, it can be seen that the company has purchased more capital assets than selling them and it is a positive sign that the company is continuously expanding (Lewellen and Lewellen 2016). Financing Activities: Cash flow from financing activities reflects the sales and purchase of stocks and the proceeds from debt financing. From the analysis of the cash flow statements of Astro Malaysia Holdings, it can be observed that the company has negative cash flow from financing activities in 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 (corporate.astro.com.my 2018). It is a sign for the healthy business operations of Astro Malaysia Holdings as it implies that the company is reinvesting their cash inflow from operating activities for the payment of dividends and for the payment of outside financing (Gitman, Juchau and Flanagan 2015). From the above discussion, it can be seen that there are both positive and negative aspects in the cash flow statements of Astro Malaysia Holdings and it implies that there is still scope for improvements. The following discussion shows the remedial actions that Astro Malaysia Holdings should undertake for the improvements in cash flows: It is required for Astro Malaysia Holdings to forecast the cash position of the company on a regular basis in order to make sure that there is sufficient cash for various purposes of business. It is needed for the company to forecast the fact that whether there is any needs for external funding for the business operations. This particular aspect ensures the source and implementation of the required facilities for the business organization (Collins, Hribar, and Tian 2014). It is essential for Astro Malaysia Holdings to forecast the short-term cash flows in an effective manner. At the same time, the company should also require to ensure the effective forecasting of long-term future cash flows. The company is required to forecast the future cash flows at an appropriate level detail as the modeling of cash flow at a higher level of detail can produce poor results and can affect the decision-making process of the companies (Disatnik, Duchin and Schmidt 2013). The used assumptions for the planning of cash flows need to be constantly updated so that the actual trading concisions can be reflected. In addition, they are required to be easy to amend to produce different scenarios. The assumptions are required to be real for the monitoring of cash flow forecasting. In this process, it is required for the company to monitor the variance between the forecasted and actual cash flow (Oler and Picconi 2014). References Brigham, E.F. and Houston, J.F., 2012.Fundamentals of financial management. Cengage Learning. Call, A.C., Chen, S. and Tong, Y.H., 2013. Are analysts' cash flow forecasts nave extensions of their own earnings forecasts?.Contemporary Accounting Research,30(2), pp.438-465. Chortareas, G.E., Girardone, C. and Ventouri, A., 2013. Financial freedom and bank efficiency: Evidence from the European Union.Journal of Banking Finance,37(4), pp.1223-1231. Collins, D.W., Hribar, P. and Tian, X.S., 2014. Cash flow asymmetry: Causes and implications for conditional conservatism research.Journal of Accounting and Economics,58(2-3), pp.173-200. Corporate.astro.com.my. (2018).About Us | Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad. [online] Available at: https://corporate.astro.com.my/aboutus.aspx [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018]. Corporate.astro.com.my. (2018).Annual Report 2014. [online] Available at: https://corporate.astro.com.my/Portals/_default/skins/amh2015/downloads/investor/annual-reports/AMH-AR14-ENG.pdf [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018]. Corporate.astro.com.my. (2018).Annual Report 2016. [online] Available at: https://corporate.astro.com.my/Portals/_default/skins/amh2015/downloads/investor/annual-reports/AMH-AR16-ENG.pdf [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018]. Corporate.astro.com.my. (2018).Annual Report 2017. [online] Available at: https://corporate.astro.com.my/Portals/_default/skins/amh2015/downloads/investor/annual-reports/AMH-AR17-ENG.pdf [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018]. Dilshad, M.N., 2013. Profitability analysis of mergers and acquisitions: an event study approach.Business and economic research,3(1). Disatnik, D., Duchin, R. and Schmidt, B., 2013. Cash flow hedging and liquidity choices.Review of Finance,18(2), pp.715-748. Driessen, J., Lin, T.C. and Phalippou, L., 2012. A new method to estimate risk and return of nontraded assets from cash flows: the case of private equity funds.Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis,47(3), pp.511-535. Gitman, L.J., Juchau, R. and Flanagan, J., 2015.Principles of managerial finance. Pearson Higher Education AU. Hashim, J., 2015. Information communication technology (ICT) adoption among SME owners in Malaysia.International Journal of Business and Information,2(2). Hays, J. (2018).MEDIA AND TELEVISION IN MALAYSIA | Facts and Details. [online] Factsanddetails.com. Available at: https://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4f/entry-3664.html [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018]. Heikal, M., Khaddafi, M. and Ummah, A., 2014. Influence analysis of return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), net profit margin (NPM), debt to equity ratio (DER), and current ratio (CR), against corporate profit growth in automotive in Indonesia Stock Exchange.International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences,4(12), p.101. Higgins, R.C., 2012.Analysis for financial management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Hilton, R.W. and Platt, D.E., 2013.Managerial accounting: creating value in a dynamic business environment. McGraw-Hill Education. Holden, C.W., Jacobsen, S. and Subrahmanyam, A., 2014. The empirical analysis of liquidity.Foundations and Trends in Finance,8(4), pp.263-365. Jain, P.K., Singh, S. and Yadav, S.S., 2013. Capital Structure Decisions. InFinancial Management Practices(pp. 77-158). Springer, India. Jomo, K.S. ed., 2013.Industrializing Malaysia: policy, performance, prospects. Routledge. Keane, M. and Donald, S.H., 2014. Convergence, content industries and media governance.Media in China: Consumption, Content and Crisis (London and New York: Routledge, 2014), pp.200-211. Kirkham, R., 2012. Liquidity analysis using cash flow ratios and traditional ratios: The telecommunications sector in Australia.The Journal of New Business Ideas Trends,10(1), p.1. Kotabe, M. and Helsen, K., 2014.Global marketing management. Lewellen, J. and Lewellen, K., 2016. Investment and cash flow: New evidence.Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis,51(4), pp.1135-1164. Nor, F.M., Ibrahim, I. and Rashid, M., 2013. Exposure to investor sentiment in Malaysia: Services versus manufacturing stocks. Oler, D.K. and Picconi, M.P., 2014. Implications of insufficient and excess cash for future performance.Contemporary Accounting Research,31(1), pp.253-283. Pepinsky, T.B., 2013. The new media and Malaysian politics in historical perspective.Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs,35(1), pp.83-103. Pressreference.com. (2018).Malaysia Press, Media, TV, Radio, Newspapers - television, circulation, stations, papers, number, print, freedom. [online] Available at: https://www.pressreference.com/Ky-Ma/Malaysia.html [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018]. Robb, A.M. and Robinson, D.T., 2014. The capital structure decisions of new firms.The Review of Financial Studies,27(1), pp.153-179. Schtte, H. and Ciarlante, D., 2016.Consumer behaviour in Asia. Springer. Solomon, M., Russell-Bennett, R. and Previte, J., 2012.Consumer behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU. Zavyalova, A., Pfarrer, M.D., Reger, R.K. and Shapiro, D.L., 2012. Managing the message: The effects of firm actions and industry spillovers on media coverage following wrongdoing.Academy of Management Journal,55(5), pp.1079-1101.