Assessment Task
As an MSc Student at Sheffield Business School, two family friends, Mr. and Mrs. Wonga, have approached you for advice. They have heard from Auntie Betty, whom you advised recently, that you are an expert in finance and investment. Given the interest rates are very low at the moment, Mr. and Mrs. Wonga are tempted to try investing their life savings in shares. They have heard from the business news that the London Stock Exchange has been doing well despite the impact of the pandemic. However, Mr. and Mrs. Wonga have limited amount of experience in shares and are nervous about their investment adventure. Mr. and Mrs. Wonga are open to suggestions. Like Auntie Betty, Mrs. Wonga has a preference towards investing in the retail industry. She has been a loyal customer of J Sainsbury plc (Sainsbury's) and seen the company growing steadily over the past few decades.
You are required to prepare an assignment which covers the following parts:
(1) Analyse the investor related performance of Sainsbury's in the financial years 2018 - 2022 (five financial years). Your analysis should include the following:
(A) a variety of earnings and dividend ratios and related assessment of Sainsbury's for the financial years 2018 - 2022.
(B) an interpretation and analysis of the trends and implications of the earnings and dividend related ratios that you have identified in (A).
(C) an analysis of three financial and three non-financial factors/aspects which might have contributed to the change in the earnings and dividend related ratios and performance over the financial years 2018 to 2022.
(2) Select a competitor of Sainsbury's from the FTSE 100 or 250 (or from another stock exchange). Identify and compare this competitor's earnings and dividend ratios and the related performance with Sainsbury's over the financial period 2018 and 2022. You are also required to comment on the differences in performance between the two companies the key factors which might have contributed to the differences.
Note: NEXT plc should not be used for this assignment as we have used NEXT as a sample company for seminar activities.
(3) Based on the findings from your analysis for Parts 1 and 2, plus THREE types of non- financial information or factors, you are required to make recommendations to Mr. and Mrs. Wonga whether they should invest in Sainsbury's, the selected competitor or neither of the two companies. Your recommendations must be clearly explained and justified.
The non-financial information/factors which help you arrive at the recommendations must come from Sainsbury's and/or the chosen competitor's corporate (social) responsibility performance and/or strategies.