FINANCE CASE STUDY 4: FIRM VALUATION AND ANALYST RECOMMENDATION

You work as a research analyst as part of the relatively small analyst team at Wilson Asset
Management (WAM). Wilson Asset Management is the manager of a range of leading listed
investment companies (LICs) trading on the Australian Securities Exchange which focus
predominantly on pooled investment in Australian companies but also some which offer
international market investment exposure. These LICs include WAM Capital, WAM Active,
WAM Research, WAM Leaders, WAM Microcap and WAM Global. Wilson Asset
Management also has close links with the philanthropic-focused Future Generation Australia
and Future Generation Global LICs which were founded by Geoff Wilson, the Chairman and
Chief Investment Officer of Wilson Asset Management. Wilson Asset Management conducts
Shareholder Presentation days in both May and November each year, which are quite unique
events as they include both updates on the performance of the WAM and Future Generation
LICs, but also include investment managers and analysts providing individual insights and
analysis of specific industry sectors or companies. Due to the workplace and social distancing
requirements currently in place due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Shareholder Presentation event
scheduled for late November 2020 will be conducted as an online event. As part of planning
for the upcoming November 2020 event, Geoff Wilson has asked each analyst team to prepare
the following for presentation at the online Shareholder Presentation:
 Individual online visual and audio presentations by each analyst team member on one
company from a specific industry followed by Wilson Asset Management and/or part of
one of their LICs.
 An analyst group online visual and audio presentation providing a preferred company
recommendation among the companies forming the focus of the individual analyst
presentations.
The individual analyst presentation should be of a maximum of 10 minutes duration and the
combined analyst team presentation should be a maximum of 10 minutes duration for the
overall analyst team. The presentation content should include both presentation slides or similar
visual material and an associated verbal presentation. The contents of the individual analyst
company presentations should be focused on a near-term investment perspective and
potentially include:
 A description of the company background and activities
 The nature and position of the company within its industry sector and any specific drivers
and competitive advantages associated with its business activities
 Current economic and market events impacting on the company
 A summary of the recent performance of the company and any forward-looking projections
 An intrinsic valuation of the company’s shares at the current point in time and provision of
a valuation conclusion
 An overall conclusion about the company as a potential investment option.
2
The combined analyst team presentation should provide a comparative analysis among the
individually-analysed companies and a justified recommendation of the preferred company out
of those analysed.
The industry and company allocations will be provided once analyst teams have been formed.
Required:
The individual analyst and analyst team online presentations are due to be submitted to
the WAM Chief Investment Officer, Mr Geoff Wilson AO, by 5.00pm on Friday 9th
October 2020, via file upload to the FIN3CSF subject LMS site. This case study
contributes 15% to the overall final assessment in the FIN3CSF subject, with the
individual student presentation comprising 10% and the group student presentation
comprising 5% of this overall 15% assessment allocation. Both individual and group
presentations should be a maximum of 10 minutes in duration, equating to an overall
equivalent word limit of 1,000 words per student. Analyst team groups are to comprise
of either 3 or 4 people (preferably 4 people), no more and no less, and teams can be selfdetermined and registered with your Instance Coordinator.