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Chapter
CAPITAL STRUCTURE AND LEVERAGE

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Capital Structure Defined

The term capital structure is used to represent the proportionate relationship
between debt and equity.
The various means of financing represent the financial structure of an enterprise.
The left-hand side of the balance sheet (liabilities plus equity) represents the
financial structure of a company. Traditionally, short-term borrowings are excluded
from the list of methods of financing the firms capital expenditure.

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Questions while Making the Financing Decision

How should the investment project be financed?
Does the way in which the investment projects are financed matter?
How does financing affect the shareholders risk, return and value?
Does there exist an optimum financing mix in terms of the maximum value to
the firms shareholders?
Can the optimum financing mix be determined in practice for a company?
What factors in practice should a company consider in designing its financing
policy?

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Features of An Appropriate Capital Structure

capital structure is that capital structure at that level of debt equity proportion
where the market value per share is maximum and the cost of capital is minimum.
Appropriate capital structure should have the following features
Profitability / Return
Solvency / Risk
Flexibility
Conservation / Capacity
Control

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Determinants of Capital Structure

Seasonal Variations
Tax benefit of Debt
Flexibility
Control
Industry Leverage Ratios
Agency Costs
Industry Life Cycle
Degree of Competition
Company Characteristics
Requirements of Investors
Timing of Public Issue
Legal Requirements

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Patterns / Forms of Capital Structure

Following are the forms of capital structure:
Complete equity share capital;
Different proportions of equity and preference share capital;
Different proportions of equity and debenture (debt) capital and
Different proportions of equity, preference and debenture (debt) capital.

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Problems on Capital structure

Fitwell company is now capitalized with Rs. 50,00,000 consisting of 10,000
ordinary shares of Rs. 500 each. Additional finance of Rs. 50,00,000 is
required for a major expansion programme launched by the company.
Four possible financing plane are under consideration. These are:
1. Entirely through additional share capital, issuing 10,000 shares of Rs.
500 each.
2. Rs. 25 lakhs through ordinary shares and Rs. 25lakhs through 12%
debt.
3. Entirely through 13% debt.
4. Rs. 25 lakhs through equity and Rs. 25lakhs through 10% preference
shares of Rs. 500 each.
The companys EBIT presently is Rs. 6lakhs. By virtue of the increase in
capitalization, the EBIT is expected to double the present level.
Examine the impact of financial leverage of these four plans and calculate
the EPS for the shareholders, assuming the tax rate to be 50%. Copyright 2008, Dr Sudhindra Bhat

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Problems on Capital structure

A company needs Rs. 12,00,000 for the installation of a new
factory, which would yield an annual EBIT of Rs. 200,000. the
company has the objective of maximizing the EPS. It is
considering the possibility of issuing equity shares plus raising a
debt of Rs. 200,000, Rs. 600,000 or Rs. 10,00,000. The current
market price per share is Rs. 40 which is expected to drop to
Rs. 25 per share if the market borrowings were to exceed t
750,000.
Cost of borrowings are indicated as under:
1. Up to Rs. 250,000 10%p.a
2. Between Rs. 250,001 and Rs. 625000 14%p.a
3. Between Rs. 625,001 and Rs. 10,00,000 16%p.a
Assuming tax rate to be 50% work out EPS in each case and
suggest the best option.
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Meaning of Financial Leverage

The use of the fixed-charges sources of funds, such as debt and preference
capital along with the owners equity in the capital structure, is described as
financial leverage or gearing or trading on equity.
The financial leverage employed by a company is intended to earn more return
on the fixed-charge funds than their costs. The surplus (or deficit) will increase
(or decrease) the return on the owners equity. The rate of return on the owners
equity is levered above or below the rate of return on total assets.

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Measures of Financial Leverage

Debt ratio
Debtequity ratio
Interest coverage
The first two measures of financial leverage can be expressed either in terms of
book values or market values. These two measures are also known as measures
of capital gearing.
The third measure of financial leverage, commonly known as coverage ratio. The
reciprocal of interest coverage is a measure of the firms income gearing.

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Financial Leverage of Ten Largest Indian

Companies, 2006
Company Capital Gearing Income Gearing
Debt ratio Debtequity ratio Interest coverage Interest to EBIT ratio

1. Indian Oil 0.556 1.25:1 4.00 0.250

2. HPCL 0.350 0.54:1 5.15 0.194
3. BPCL 0.490 0.96:1 5.38 0.186

4. SAIL 0.858 6.00:1 - ve - ve

5. ONGC 0.106 0.12:1 53.49 0.019

6. TELCO 0.484 0.94:1 0.99 1.007

7. TISCO 0.577 1.37:1 1.62 0.616
8. BHEL 0.132 0.15:1 8.36 0.120
9. Reliance 0.430 0.75:1 3.46 0.289
10. L&T 0.522 1.09:1 2.31 0.433
11. HLL 0.027 0.03:1 264.92 0.004

12. Infosys 0.000 0.00:1 NA* NA*

13. Voltas 0.430 0.72:1 2.64 0.378
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Financial Leverage
financial leverage is the ability of the firm to use fixed financial charges to

magnify the effects of changes in EBIT on the firms earnings per share.
In other words, financial leverage may be defined as the payment of fixed rate

of interest for the use of fixed interest bearing securities to magnify the rate of
return as equity shares

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Financial Leverage and the Shareholders Return

The primary motive of a company in using financial leverage is to magnify the

shareholders return under favourable economic conditions. The role of financial

leverage in magnifying the return of the shareholders is based on the

assumptions that the fixed-charges funds (such as the loan from financial

institutions and banks or debentures) can be obtained at a cost lower than the

firms rate of return on net assets (RONA or ROI).

EPS, ROE and ROI are the important figures for analysing the impact of

financial leveraged

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Effect of Leverage on ROE and EPS

Favourable ROI > I
Unfavourable ROI < I
Neutral ROI = i

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Debt-equity Mix and the Value of the Firm

Capital structure theories:
Net operating income (NOI) approach.

Traditional approach and Net income (NI) approach.

MM hypothesis with and without corporate tax.

Millers hypothesis with corporate and personal taxes.

Trade-off theory: costs and benefits of leverage.

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Assumption of Capital Structure Theories

There are only two sources of funds i.e.: debt and equity.
The total assets of the company are given and do no change.
The total financing remains constant. The firm can change the degree of leverage
either by selling the shares and retiring debt or by issuing debt and redeeming
equity.
Operating profits (EBIT) are not expected to grow.
All the investors are assumed to have the same expectation about the future profits.
Business risk is constant over time and assumed to be independent of its capital
structure and financial risk.
Corporate tax does not exit.
The company has infinite life.
Dividend payout ratio = 100%.

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Net Income (NI) Approach

According to NI approach both Cost
the cost of debt and the cost of
equity are independent of the
capital structure; they remain
ke, ko ke
constant regardless of how much
debt the firm uses. As a result, the ko
kd kd
overall cost of capital declines and
the firm value increases with debt.
This approach has no basis in Debt

reality; the optimum capital

structure would be 100 per cent
debt financing under NI approach. Copyright 2008, Dr Sudhindra Bhat

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Net Operating Income (NOI) Approach

According to NOI approach the
value of the firm and the weighted
average cost of capital are
Cost
independent of the firms capital ke

structure.
In the absence of taxes, an
ko
individual holding all the debt and
kd
equity securities will receive the
same cash flows regardless of the
Debt
capital structure and therefore,
value of the company is the
same.
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MM Approach Without Tax: Proposition I

MMs Proposition I states that the firms value is independent of its capital
structure. With personal leverage, shareholders can receive exactly the same
return, with the same risk, from a levered firm and an unlevered firm. Thus, they
will sell shares of the over-priced firm and buy shares of the under-priced firm until
the two values equate. This is called arbitrage.

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MMs Proposition II
The cost of equity for a levered firm equals the constant overall cost of capital
plus a risk premium that equals the spread between the overall cost of capital
and the cost of debt multiplied by the firms debt-equity ratio. For financial
leverage to be irrelevant, the overall cost of capital must remain constant,
regardless of the amount of debt employed. This implies that the cost of equity
must rise as financial risk increases.

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MM Hypothesis With Corporate Tax

Under current laws in most countries, debt has an important advantage over
equity: interest payments on debt are tax deductible, whereas dividend
payments and retained earnings are not. Investors in a levered firm receive in
the aggregate the unlevered cash flow plus an amount equal to the tax
deduction on interest. Capitalising the first component of cash flow at the all-
equity rate and the second at the cost of debt shows that the value of the
levered firm is equal to the value of the unlevered firm plus the interest tax shield
which is tax rate times the debt (if the shield is fully usable).
It is assumed that the firm will borrow the same amount of debt in perpetuity and
will always be able to use the tax shield. Also, it ignores bankruptcy and agency
costs.

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Features of an Appropriate Capital Structure

Profitability
Solvency
Return
Risk
Flexibility
Capacity
Control
Conservatism

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