Debt Policy at UST Attributes and Risks of UST UST is the market leader in the moist tobacco segment. In a struggling tobacco industry‚ UST has shown consistent growth over the past few decades. Despite the decrease in demand for smoked (cigarette) tobacco‚ there is a growing demand for UST’s products. The perception that smokeless tobacco is healthier than smoked tobacco has helped the company to build a strong customer base. Therefore‚ despite some legislative setbacks‚ the company is growing
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manufacturer in the moist smokeless tobacco industry‚ UST Inc. has long been recognized by its ability to generate high profit using low financial leverage. With a dominant market share of 77%‚ the company maintains a pricing power that allows it to institute annual price increases without losing costumers. However‚ UST’s market share was eroded significantly in recent years by price-value competitors who enter the market with lower prices. Although UST responded to these threat by introducing new products
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Case 1 – Debt Policy at UST Inc. 1) UST is the dominant producer of moist smokeless tobacco‚ or moist snuff‚ controlling approximately 77% of the market. UST has been one of the most profitable companies in corporate America with low debt compared to other companies in the tobacco industry and the company has been recognized by Forbes in terms of profitability by achieving return of capital of 92.1%. Price elasticity of its products is also important while evaluating. Smokeless tobacco industry
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Debt Policy at UST 1. How well is UST doing? * UST has been doing extremely well. Revenues and earnings are growing at 9% and 11% respectively. * Named by Forbes as one of the top companies in terms of profitability. ROC‚ ROE and GPM one of the industry highest. * Paying back generous dividends of $2.2b and repurchasing $2b from 1988 to 1998. * However‚ they seem to be losing market share in the premium market to competitors and have not been able to make an impact in the
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1. What are the benefits of debt for UST? How do you calculate the value of these benefits? Use a corporate tax rate of 38% to value the tax shields. The benefits of debt to UST are to create an interest tax shield. The interest tax shield directly increases the cash flows paid to equity investors. The present value of that interest tax shield increases the market value of UST as a leveraged firm vs. an unleveraged one‚ if they choose to recapitalize. The value of these benefits is calculated
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that the primary business risks associated with UST Inc. include but are not limited to: litigation‚ poor diversification of product lines‚ resignation of two key executives‚ lack of innovation and timeliness of new products‚ and erosion of market share due to competitors. Aside from the risks‚ UST has several key attributes that set them apart from other companies. UST continues to be a top company relative to the smokeless tobacco industry and other industries in terms of profitability and has
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1. Assess the business and financial risks of UST Business risks are relatively low: Main risk is that UST has undiversified business‚ it basically relies on one product However its main product is noncyclical‚ it carries little systematic risk Imminent increase in excise tax on smokeless tobacco (however‚ tobacco demand is considerably inelastic) It is the (sub)industry leader (market share >85%)‚ industry is an oligopoly which implies high barriers for potential competitors to enter the market
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| Group Assignment 1 | UST Case Study | 2/19/2013 | | | | Question 1: In order to calculate the impact of the leverage recapitalization on UST’s value‚ we used the WACC and APV methods to calculate its value before and after the recapitalization. WACC Method Using the WACC method‚ we first derived UST’s return on assets (rA). Since we are given the firm’s market capitalization‚ debt and cash‚ we calculated the current Enterprive Value of UST. We were then able to derive
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“UST Inc” case study The primary business risks associated with UST are as follows: First‚ legal challenges will cause litigation expenses‚ lawsuits expenses and settlement payments‚ which will decrease the operating income and cash flow and will increase the risks of debt default. From the industry level‚ the smokeless tobacco manufactures have faced less exposure to health related lawsuits than cigarette manufactures because the scientific evidence linking smokeless tobacco to cancer is less
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Introduction: The case “Debt Policy at UST Inc.” deals with the progressively lowering growth and the company’s board decision to borrow up to $1 billion over five years to accelerate its stock buyback program. The case talks about how the company has seen its commanding market power decline over the years due to price challenge from smaller companies and has been experiencing slow growth rates due to lack of innovation in recent years. The investors had concerns regarding the future of the company
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