*** September 2023 ACCA AFM exam – Instant Poll and comments ***

I had the same. what did you do about the hedging? Some of the premiums were missing

I had the same morning questions but APV and NPV both got positive
Ke 12%

For swap I got 4.45% rate

Valuations narrative on hostile takeover was tricky only white nights strategy I identified

What anyone else wrote ?

AFM is no joke. If I get a 50% pass on this paper, I am going to give a testimony at church.

I had the same but NPV got a negative(yes Ke 12%), then calculated APV and even adding tax benefits still gave a negative APV, so not sure if I had messed somewhere. Spent so much time on question A that I then messed up the other 2 questions, did not do ratio analysis on the last one just narrative , I don’t think I passed

Was ok interest rate collar with net premium was the hedging, did Q3 ran out of time to get Q2 exam was a bit of a joke to be honest

wished i studied business valutation abit more, there were easy marks i’ve missed (crycry) could be the few marks i need for a pass

I had APV 50 mark question as well. I am kicking myself, I seem to have messed up the ungeared Ke section. I don’t know how, I had done it so many times. My result was 16% for some reason.

Forgot to add back the tax depreciation as well. Don’t think I got the swap right.

I attempted the other 2 questions but probably didn’t do enough for a pass given all the mistakes.

Delighted Q1 was on interest risk, options collars and swap.
Q2 on acquisition done probably incorrectly but calculated the percentage in gain for shareholders but unfortunately 7 marks left on reverse takeover theory, very disappointing.
Q3 full question on Ratios 10 marks calculations and 10 marks for theory. Strange question.
Just praying for 50%!
All the studies done to then write this paper is ridiculous.

Just because no one mentioned about the swap, I got CBBR +1.7% after the swap which ended up being 5.70% .. it was asked to be calculated in the notes paper but not in an actual question. Also the Q2 on cash flow to equity valuation I didn’t not understand so left it blank. Did anyone attempt that?

Can you elaborate more? This seems like a different paper set, most people got APV

Yes, I got the same answer in swap, 0.3% benefit for each party. The overall APV is still negative after including subsidised loan, bank loan benefit and subsidised loan interest rate benfit.

I believe the exam was really hard

Question number one was an APV calculation for 21 points with a possible interest SWAP and comments on managers view. I got a 12% cost of equity, negative NPV and positive APV after incorporation of subsidised loan finance and tax saving on normal loan interest. At the same time I feel i was not consistent enough – i calculated saving on subs loan versus rate on notmal loan, which was given as 6%, but at the same time SWAP resulted in a decrease of rate to 5.7% and I have caluclated tax saving on interest 5.7%, not 6%.. pehaps subs loan saving should have been calculated as well versus the updated rate (but in this case it would make no sense to discount it at 6%). At the same tine in requirement there was not separate question regarding the rates SWAP which is strange.

Question 2 appeared to be very easy if you knew the Gordons growth model. I have totally forgotten about it and calculated the growth rate based on the given share price and given required investor return (which is not correct I believe). At the same time I dont understand how the marking scheme is working – If i Have failed to calculate correctly the market value of acquired company – all other calculations were based on an incorrect synergy effect of two companies, thus also incorrect. Is it still possible to get there some marks? I hope.

When I arrived to the last question which was the ration question – I have only 25 minutes left which was not enough at all.. I tried to write some of comments on performance, gearing and liquidity and ran out of time. However looks like it was a question with easy marks.

Hope for 50% at least, but at the same time not sure I will get those

I also want to leave a feedback regarding the technical side of the exam. I am sorry, but CBE are awful. Excel in the exam is a total disaster. It is written somewhere that you can’t add rows and columns, thus use Ctrl+x ctrl V to manage the composition of the sheet – but when you do it – all formulas are breaking. You can not freeze cells (F4), you can not review your formulas (F2), you can not select a range of cells and copy the formula inside. I feel like I have lost plenty of time on such not exam related activities, eventhough I have practised such sitting before.

Wish everyone luck!