INTRODUCTION Liberalization globalization and privatization are the important issues to the entrepreneur and corporate threatening the existence of a firm. In such a complex corporate environment, it is the challenge to the finance manager to survive the firm in long run perspective with the objective of maximizing the owner's wealth. With a view to achieve this objective finance manager is required to pay his due attention on investment decision, financing decision and dividend decision.Assuming that sound investment policy and opportunity are there, it is the intention of this dissertation to optimize the financing decision and dividend decision in the context of achieving the stated objective. Financing decision refers to the selection of appropriate financing mix and so it relates to the capital structure or leverage.Capital structure refers to proportion of long-term debt capital and equity capital required to finance investment proposal. There should be an optimum capital structure, which can be attained by the judicious exercise of financial leverage.In order to run and manage a company funds are needed. Right from the promotional stage, finance plays an important role in a companys life. If funds are inadequate and not properly manage the entire organization suffers, it is therefore necessary that correct estimation of the current and future need of capital be made to have an optimal capital structure which shall help the organization to run smoothly.The capital structure is made up of debt and equity securities and refers to permanent financing of a firm.On the other hand a general dictionary meaning of the term Leverage refers to an increase of accomplishing some purpose. In Financial Management the term leverage is used to describe the firms ability to use fixed cost assets or funds to increase the returns to its owners.This dissertation mainly concentrates on the exercise of impact of leverage and capital structure on company profitability.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The objectives for which study has been undertaken are:

1) To study the methods of raising finance and financial leverages used by the company.

2) To examine the impact of leverage on EPS.

3) To know about the dividend policy of the company.

4) To assess the inter relationship between degree of financial leverage (DFL), earning per share (EPS) and dividend per share (DPS).

5) To summarize main finding of the study and offer some suggestion, if any, for improving EPS by the use of financial leverage.

Hypothesis

In order to realize the above objective following hypotheses have formulated.

1) The company uses debt as a cheaper source of finance than equity.

2) DFL and EPS are positively correlated in such a manner that increases in financial leverage leads to increase in EPS.

Collection of data:

This project is totally based on the Secondary Data, So all the data of Birla Cotsyn India Ltd. have been collected from -

1) The annul report of the company. 2) From the Web site of company.3) From the study Books material.

The data collected from this source have been used and complied with due care as per requirement of the study.

Period of study:

The present study covers a period of five year from 2004-2008.

Techniques of analysis:

For analyzing the degree of association between DFL, EPS and DPS. The study has been made by converting the collected data into relative measure such as ratios, percentage rather than absolute one.

Limitation of study:

1) The study is limited to five year only. Generally twenty years data is ideal to form trend analysis.

2) This is based on secondary data collected from the annual report of the company. It was not possible to collect the primary data from the company's office.

Chapter 3

The theoretical aspects of leverage analysis

Leverage:

Leverage is using given resources in such a way that the potential positive or negative outcome is magnified in finance, this generally refers to borrowing. If the firm's return on assets (ROA) is higher than the interest on the loan, then its return on equity (ROE) will be higher than if it did not borrow. On the other hand, if the firm's ROA is lower than the interest rate, then its ROE will be lower than if it did not borrow.In other words may be defined, as the employment of an asset or sources of fund has to pay fixed cost or fixed return. Types of leverageThere are three type of leverage:1. Financial Leverage.2. Operating leverage.3. Combined or composite leverage.Financial leverage:Is primarily concern with the financial activities in which involve rising of funds from the sources from which a firm has to bear fixed charges. These sources include long-term dept (e.g.: bonds, debentures, etc) & preferences share etc. Long-term debt carries a contractual fixed rate of interest & obligatory. As the debt providers have Prior claim on income &assets of a firm over equity shareholders their rate of interest is generally lower than expected return of the equity shareholders.Further interest on debt capital is tax-deductible expenses. These two-phenomenon lead to magnification of rate of return on equity capital & hence E.P.S goes without saying that effects of changes in E.B.I.T on the earning per share are shown by the financial leverage. Financial leverage can best be described as the ability of firm to use fixed financial charges in E.B.I.T. on the firm earning per share.

Financial leverage helps to know the responsiveness of E.P.S. to change in the EBIT. It involves use of funds obtained at fixed cost in the capital structure in such a way that it increase the return for common shareholders.It is referred to a state at which a firm has to bear fixed financing cost arising from the use of debt capital. The firm with high financial leverage will have a relatively high fixed financing cost compared with low financial leverage. Financial leverage occurs when a company employ the fixed cost of funds debt or preference share capital with a view to maximizing earning available to equity shareholder by a way of a higher income of funds. This technique also called Trade on equity. Financial leverage influence the financial risk as long as the companys earnings are greater than its fixed cost it will enjoy a favorable financial leverage position and make earning available to equity shareholders. Financial leverage can measure with the help of the following formula:-Financial leverage will have a favorable impact on earnings per share a return of equity only. When the firms return on investment exceeds the interest cost of debt. The impact will be unfavorable if the return on investment is less than interest.The financial leverage measures the relationship between the E.B.I.T. & E.P.S. and it reflect the effect of change in E.B.I.T. On the level of E.P.S. The financial leverage measures the responsiveness of the E.P.S. to charge in E.B.I.T. If defined as dividend by % change in E.B.I.T.

Operating leverage:-Operating leverage associated with investment activities (Assets acquisition). It occurs anytime when firm has fixed costs that must be met regardless of volume in operating leverage, when fixed cost remain constant the percentage change in profit accompanying a change in volume is greater than the percentage change in volume A firm with high operating leverage will have a relatively high fixed cost in comparison with a firm with low operating leverage. If a company employs operating leverage then its operating profit will increase at a faster rate for any given increase in sale. However I sales fall the firm with high operating leverage will suffer more loss than the firm with the no or low operating leverage. Therefore operating leverage called 2-edged sword. It can be ascertained by the help of following formula

Degree of operating leverage;-A high degree of operating leverage shows the greater impact on the operating income of the company due to variability in its sales, which is also responsible for variability in its operating profit. It is an important determinant of operation risk.It can be measured by % change in E.B.I.T. due to percentage change in sale.Favorable leverage is said to occur when the firm earns more on the assets purchased with the funds than their opportunity use. It is unfavorable when firm doesnt earn equivalent to the cost of funds.

Composite leverage or combined leverage or Total Leverage When financial leverage is combined with operating leverage the effect of change in revenues or earning per share is magnified Composite / combined leverage refers to extent to which firm has fixed operating cost as well as financial cost.The degree of operating and financial leverage can be combined to show the effect of total leverage on E.P.S associated with given change in sales.Operating and financial leverage together wide fluctuation in E.P.S for given change in sales if company employs high level of operating leverage and financial leverage even a small change in level of sales will have a dramatic effects on earning per share

It can be calculate by the help of following formula;-

Significance:-A proper combination of both financial & operating leverage is blessing for firm growth, while improper combination of both leverage may prove curse for the growth of company. So company should try to achieve balance of both leverage.

IMPLICATIONS, APPLICATIONS AND UTILITY OF LEVERAGES INTRODUCTION:-Financial leverage is primarily concerned with the financial activities, which involve raising of funds from the sources for which a firm has to bear a fixed charge. These sources include long-term debt (e.g. bonds, debenture etc.) and preference share capital. Long-term debts capital carries a contractual fixed rate of interest and its payment is obligatory. As the debt provides have prior claim on income and assets of a firm over equity shareholders, their rate of interest is generally lower than the expected return on equity shareholders.Further interest on debt capital is a tax-deductible expense. These two phenomenons lead to the magnification of rate of return on equity capital and hence EPS. It goes without saying that the effects of changes in EBIT on the earnings per share are shown by the financial leverage. Financial leverage can best be described as the ability of a firm to use fixed financial charges to magnify the effect of changes in EBIT on the firms earnings per share.Financial leverage helps to known the responsiveness of the earnings per share (EPS) to the changes in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). It involves the use of funds obtained at a fixed cost in the hope of increasing the return to common shareholders.Financial leverage refers to the extent to which a firm has fixed financing cost arising from the use of debt capital. The firm with financial leverage will have a relatively high fixed financing cost compared to the firm with a low financial leverage.Financial leverage will occur when a company employs the fixed cost of funds, debt or preference share capital with a view to maximizing earnings available to equity shareholders by way of a higher income than the cost of funds. These techniques also called trading on equity. Financial leverage influences the financial risk of a company. If the earnings are insufficient for covering the fixed cost burden then the company has to face financial risk. As long as the companys earnings are greater than its fixed costs, It will enjoy a favorable financial leverage position and a make use of the earnings available to equity shareholders.Financial leverage can be measured with the help of the following formula:

Financial leverage will have a favorable impact on earnings per share and return on equity only when the firms return on investment exceeds the interest cost of debt. The impact will be unfavorable if the return on investment is less than the interest cost.The financial leverage measures the relationship between the EBIT and EPS and it reflects the effects of change in EBIT on the level of EPS. The financial leverage measures the responsiveness of the EPS to a change in EBIT and is defined as a % change in EPS divided by the % change in EBIT. Symbolically,

The behaviors of DFL reveals that:-1) Each level of EBIT has distinct DFL.2) DFL is undefined at financial BEP.3) DFL will be negative when the EBIT level goes below the financial BEP.4) DFL will be positive for all values of EBIT that are above the financial Break even point. This will however starts to decline as EBIT increases and will reach to a limit of one (1).By assembling DFL one can understand the impact of a change in EBIT on the EPS of the company. It helps in assessing the financial risk of the company. It also explain the impact of market risk on financial risk.Greater the financial leverage, wider the fluctuation in return on equity and greater is the financial risk.

IMPLICATIONS1) High operating leverage combined with high financial leverage will consolidate risky situation.2) Normal situation is one should be high and another should be low. If a company has a low operating leverage, financial leverage can be higher and vice versa.3) Ideal situation is when both the leverages are low.

APPLICATION AND UTILITY OF LEVERAGE:To understand the applications and utility of leverage in financial analysis it is important to understand the behavior of degree of operating leverage. It is to be noted that:1) For each level of output there is a distinct DOL.2) At BEP, DOL is undefined.3) If quantity is less than BEP, the DOL will be negative.(but there is no such direct relationship that less quantity leads to decrease in EBIT no such connection to be formed.)4) If quantity is greater than BEP the DOL will be positive (but there is no such direct relationship. DOL may start declining after an increasing quantity beyond certain level and will limit to one (1).)5) A large DOL indicates that small fluctuation in the level of operation will produce large fluctuation in the level of operating income.

WHY LEVERAGE IS POSSIBLE?PROFITABILITY A CATALYST IN THE LEVERAGE:Profitability is the ability of a company to generate profit. It is an overall measure, which depicts the efficiency and efficiency and effectiveness at which the company has been operating. It indicates the overall result of the management's decision. Further, it reflects how best the company has put to use its scarce resources to generate a higher rate of profitability.Profitability is also taken as a criterion to measure and assess the relative efficiency of the management of a company to generate profit. A company, which generates a higher rate of profitability, is considered to be more efficient than other companies. Profitability is represented by the return on investment (ROI). It is the overall measure of a company's performance. According to Du-Pont control chart, variability in profitability is explained by taking into consideration its two components viz profit margin and asset turnover. As per this part, an overall control is exercised on the various resources of a company and necessary corrective action for further improvement in profitability is suggested. Profitability is ascertained from the income statement. The various components of an income statement and their inter-relationship embrace the profitability status of the firm. This can be shown from the following table

INCOME STATEMENT:Total Revenue Variable cost Fixed Expenses= EBIT Interest on Debt= Profit before Tax Tax= Profit after tax Preference Dividend= Equity Earnings

EBIT = Total revenue Total cost} Total cost = V +F Now total revenue = Quantity produced * unit selling priceTherefore EBIT = Q * S Q * V F = Q (S - V) FWhere:- Q = Quantity produced and sold.S = Unit selling priceV = Variable cost per unitF = Total fixed cost.

EPS = PAT / N and EPS per equity = PAT DP / NNow PAT = EBIT I Tax on (EBIT - I)Therefore EPS for equity = [ (EBIT I )(1 - T) DP] / NThus we can see that EBIT is related S, Q.V, and F and EPS is related to EBIT. This relationship can be used to understand movement in related items with reference movement in certain items.The relationship between quantity of production sold and earning capacity established operating leverage. The operating hints that when we change the level of operation it results in the change in earning capacity.The relationship between organizations total earning capacity and earning by the individual investors establish financial leverage. The financial leverage hints that when earning capacity changes it results in the corresponding change the earning by the individual investor.The relationship between the two leverage brings out the total leverage. The total leverage hints that when there is a change in level of operation it results in the corresponding change in the earnings by the individual investor.Thus this relationship can be shown as:

QUANTITY EBIT EPS

Levels of operation Earning capacity Earnings per share

Op. leverage Fin. leverage

Total Leverage

Ref: Lecture Notes on Financial Management by JCS Ravikant S Wawge, DBAR, SSGMCE, Shegaon

CHAPTER 5

CAPITAL STRUCTURE MEANING AND THEORIES

Capital Structure:-

Capital Structure of the firm is the combination of different permanent long-term financing like debt, preference capital etc.

Capital Structure theories:-

Mainly there are two different views regarding capital structure of the firm. One view states that capital structure is relevant for any given firm. It emphasis the determination of the optimum capital structure of a firm at which over all concept of capital for a firm is minimum they are increasing the total value of the firm. The second view states that there is no optimal capital structure for any firm. the market value of the firm is same for any capital structure (any debt/equity ratio) thus capital structure of the firm is irrelevant.There are four theories /approaches of expanding the relationship between capital structure and cost of capital and value of the firm. These are as follows-

1) NI approach 2) NOI approach3) MM approach4) Traditional approach.

Assumptions:-

1) The firm employs only two types of capital ie debt and equity. there are also no preference share.

2) There is no corporate tax. This assumption has been removed later.

3) The firm pays 100 % of its earning as dividend. Thus there is no returned.

4) The firms total assets are given and they do not change, in other words the investment decisions are assumed constants.

5) The firms total financing remain constant. the firm can change its capital structure either by redeeming the debentures by issue of share or by raising debt and reduce equity share capital.

6) The operating earning (EBIT) is not expanded to grow.

7) The business risk remain constant is independent of capital structure and financing risk.

8) All investors are assumed to have same subjectivity of distribution of future expanded EBIT of firm.

9) Perpetual life of the firm.

Uses of some symbols in our analysis of capital structure theories .-

S = Total market value of equity debt.

B = Total market value of debt.

V = Total market value of firm.

I = Interest payment.

NI = Net income available on equity share.

Ko = Overall cost of capital.

Ke = Equity capitalization rate.

NI Approach:- Durand has suggested NI Approach. According to this approach capital structure decision is relevant to the valuation of the firm. In other words a change in the capital structure causes a corresponding change in the overall cost of capital as well as the total value of the firm.

According to this approach, a higher debt content in the capital structure (ie high financial leverage) will result in decline in the overall or WACC this will cause increase in the value of equity shares of the company, and vice versa.

This approach is based on following assumptions:-

1) The cost of debt is less than cost of equity capitalization rate.

2) The debt content does not change he risk perception of the investor.

3) There is no corporate tax.

On the basis of NI Approach Total value of the firm as

V = S + B Where S = Ni/Ke.

NOI Approach:-

Durand has also suggested this approach. This approach is just opposite of NI Approach. According do this approach the market value of firm is not at all affected by capital structure changes. The market value of the firm ascertained by capitalizing the NOI at overall cost of capital (Ko) which is considered to be constant. The market value of equity is ascertained by deducting the market value of debt from market value of firm.

This approach is based on following assumptions-1) the overall cost of capital (Ko) remains constant for all degrees of debt equity of leverage.2) The marked capitalization value of the firm as a whole and the spilt between debt and equity is no relevant.3) The use of debt having low cost increase in equity capitalization rate (Ke) Thus the advantage of debt is set off exactly by increase in capitalization rate(Ke).4) There is no corporate tax.

The following formula can ascertain according to this approach the value of the firm:-

V = EBIT/KoAnd value of equity (S) = V-B

M-M Approach;-

This is Modigliani and Miller approach. According to this approach the value of the firm is independence of its capital structure however there is basic difference between the two. The NOI approach is purely definitional and conceptual. It does not provide operational justification for relevance of capital structure in valuation of the firm. While MM approach support the NOI approach providing behavioral justification for irrelevance of total valuation and cost of capital of the firm from its capital structure, in other words MM approach maintaining that the average cost of capital does not change with the change in the debt weighed equity mix or capital structure of the firm.

Basic Propositions;-

Following are the basic propositions of the MM Approach.

The overall cost of capital (Ko) and value of firm (V) are constant for all level of debt equity mix. The total market value of the firm is given by capitalizing expected net operating income (NOI) by the rate appropriate for risk classes.The cost of equity (Ke) is equal to capitalization rate of pure equity steam plus premium of financial risk. The financial risk increases with more debt content in capital structure, as a result cost of equity (Ke) increase in manner to off set greatly the use of less expensive source of funds represented by debt. The cost of rate of investment purpose is completely independent of the way in which investment is financed.

Assumptions-

1) Investors are rational. They evaluate risk and return of each investment proposal rationally before investing. They are able to maximize their return at minimum cost.

2) Capital market is 100% competitive.

3) The firm pay no any income tax thus loses its tax advantages.

4) Expected earning are definite and constant so future earning of firm are known and definite.

5) Investment decision is known and definite.

Traditional Approach:-

The traditional approach also known as intermediate approach it is a compromise between two extreme of NI & NOI approach. According to this approach the value of firm can be increase initially or using more debt as debt is cheaper source of fund than equity. Thus optimal capital structure can be reached by debt and equity mix. Beyond the certain level equity increases because increase in debt (financial leverage) increases the financial risk of equity shareholder. The advantage of cheaper debt at this point capital structure is offset by increase cost of equity. After there comes a stage when the increase cost of equity cannot be offset by the advantage of the low cost debt. Thus overall cost of capital (Ko) according to this certain point remain more or less constant.

According to above discussion it can conclude that the traditional theory support that the cost of capital and value of the firm are dependent upon capital structure of firm.

CHAPTER 6

EARNING PER SHARE IN THE CONTEXT OF OPTIMUM CAPTIAL STRUCTURE & DIVIDEND POLICY DECISION:

Earning per share is the reward of an investor for making his investment and it is the best measure of performance of a firm. "The bottom line of income statement is an indictor of performance of "think tank" or "top level" of the company. Ordinary investors lacking in depth knowledge and inside information mainly based on EPS to make their investment decision. So it should be the objective of financial management to maximize the EPS from the viewpoint of both the investor and investee.

Again the objective of financial management is maximization of value measure in terms of market price of equity share of a corporate entity. Given the objective of the firm to maximize the value of equity share, a firm should select a desired combination of financing mix or capital structure to achieve the goal. Theoretically, optimum capital structure implies that combination of debt and equity at which overall cost of capital is Minimum and value of the firms is Maximum. The prevailing view is that the value maximization criterion as a criterion of optimal capital structure is measured in terms of market price of equity share i.e. the value of the firms is maximized when the market price of equity share is maximized. So according to this view maximization of market price of equity share leading to the maximization of value of the firm is a criterion of optimum capital structure.

In this context an example of a firm may be drawn which is running with optimum debt equity combination. Now due to the influence of some external factors i.e. sudden political change or something like this the market price of its equity shares started decreasing and as a result value of the firm went on decreasing. Due to the downward movement of the value of firm. Its capital structure will not become optimum further and will need restructuring to become optimum again. In practice, change in market price of equity share may occur very rapidly and hence it is very difficult to change the composition of capital structure accordingly. Capital structure decision is an internal decision of the firm. So increase in market price of equity share due to the influence of external factors leading to the maximization of the value of the firm should not be a criterion of optimum capital structure. Rather EPS may be a better substitute, as a criterion of value maximizing EPS should be the main slogan or mul-mantra of a firm in order to realize the objective of maintaining an appropriate capital structure.

Dividend policy decision

Dividend decision is the major decision area of financial management. A firm is to decide what potation of earning would be distributed to the shareholders by way of dividend and what portion of the same would be retained in the firm for its future growth. Both dividend and retention are desirable but they are conflicting are desirable but they are conflicting to each other. A finance manager should be able to formulate a suitable dividend policy, which will satisfy the shareholder without hampering future progress of the firm. It is common that higher the earnings, higher will be the amount of dividend and vice-versa.

The forms with a history of taking on good project and the potential for more good projects in the future acquire much more control over their dividend policy. In particular, these firms can pay much less in dividend than they have available as cash profits and hold on to the surplus cash because the shareholder trusts them to reinvest these profits wisely In contrast, shareholders of firms having history of poor projects wish to have less retention of profits because of the fear that the profits will be invested in poor projects.

The dividend policy of a firm affects the market price of the share. In general, the stability of dividend seems to increase the marker price of the share. However the dividend policy may affect the market price indirectly by affecting the investors expectations of growth and risk associated with the stream of dividend. The dividend policy of a firm determines the amount of retained earnings, which can be reinvested by the firm to ultimately result in growth of the firm and subsequent increase in dividends in later years.