Question

Mays Corp. reported free cash flows for 2018 of $491 million and investment in operating capital of $321 million. Mays Corp. incurred $146 million in depreciation expense and paid $309 million in taxes on EBIT in 2018. What is Mays Corp.’s 2018 EBIT?

Answer 1

Answer: $975 million

Explanation:

Given the above details, we can solve for Earnings Before Tax and Interest with the following formula,

Operating Cash Flow = EBIT – Taxes on EBIT + Depreciation

Making EBIT the subject would turn it to be,

EBIT = Operating Cash Flow + Taxes on EBIT - Depreciation

We have all of the above except the EBIT and Operating Cash Flow.

Luckily we can solve for the Operating Cash Flow with the details given using,

Operating cash flow = Free Cash Flow + Investment in operating capital

Therefore,

= $491 million + $321 million

= $812 million

Operating cash flow is $812 million

Plugging it into the original formula we have,

EBIT = Operating Cash Flow + Taxes on EBIT - Depreciation

EBIT = $812 million + $309 million - $146 million

EBIT = $975 million

Earnings before Taxes and Interest is $975 million.

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