Answer:
a. Payback period method works by finding out if the investment will payback its initial investment within a certain period.
Payback period is a maximum of 4, find out which investment paid back in 4 years:
St Lucia:
= Cash flows for first 4 years - initial investment
= 230,000 + 228,000 + 278,000 + 283,000 - 950,000
= $69,000
Payback period = Year before payback + (Amount left for payback / Cashflow in payback year)
= 3 + ( (950,000 - 230,000 + 228,000 + 278,000) / 283,000)
= 3.76 years
Granada:
Payback period = Year before payback + (Amount left for payback / Cashflow in payback year)
= 2 + ( ( 750,000 - 230,000 - 280,000) / 295,000)
= 2.81 years
<em>Both of them meet criteria but Granada site has lower payback period of 2.81 years so should rank higher than St. Lucia site. </em>
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2. St Lucia NPV:
= (230,000 / (1 + 10%)) + (228,000 / (1 + 10%)²) + (278,000 / (1 + 10%)³) + (283,000 / (1 + 10%)⁴) + (273,000 / (1 + 10%)⁵) + (280,000 / (1 + 10%)⁶) - 950,000
= $177,243
Granada NPV:
= (230,000 / (1 + 12%)) + (280,000 / (1 + 12%)²) + (295,000 / (1 + 12%)³) + (180,000 / (1 + 12%)⁴) + (200,000 / (1 + 12%)⁵) + (150,000 / (1 + 12%)⁶) - 750,000
= $192,420
<em>USC has enough money to fund both projects and so should embark on both of them as they both bring in a positive Net Present Value. </em>
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3. On the basis of both the Payback period and the NPV, the Granada site performs better than the St. Lucia so if USC does not have enough money for both projects, they should invest in the Granada project.
