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Principles of
Corporate Finance
● ● ● ● ●
THE MCGRAW HILL SERIES IN FINANCE, INSURANCE, AND REAL ESTATE
Richard A. Brealey
Emeritus Professor of Finance
London Business School
Stewart C. Myers
Emeritus Professor of Financial Economics
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Franklin Allen
Professor of Finance and Economics
Imperial College London
Alex Edmans
Professor of Finance
London Business School
Final PDF to printer
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be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without
the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic
storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the
United States.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LWI 27 26 25 24 23 22
ISBN 978-1-265-07415-9
MHID 1-265-07415-1
Cover Image:
All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page.
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion of a website does
not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw Hill LLC, and McGraw Hill LLC does not guarantee the
accuracy of the information presented at these sites.
mheducation.com/highered
To our parents.
About the Authors
vii
viii Preface
integrated in Chapter 14, while Chapter 19 includes a ∙ Chapter 7 Ever wondered how COVID-19 has
discussion of governance systems around the world. affected the risk of stocks in the travel industry? An
app provides the answer.
PEDAGOGICAL CHANGES ∙ Chapter 12 Want an example of how speculative
trading can swamp the actions of arbitrageurs? The
Throughout, we have tried to explain the material much app on the explosion in the price of GameStop shares
more clearly--importantly, without dumbing it down. provides one.
The style of this edition is more direct and less whim- ∙ Chapter 18 The text briefly describes the flow-to-
sical, with terms being precisely defined and key con- equity method for valuing businesses, but using the
cepts made explicit rather than having to be inferred method can be tricky. We provide an application that
from the narrative. In many cases, the changes consist guides you step by step.
of some updated data here and a new example there. ∙ Chapter 22 The Black–Scholes Beyond the Page
Often, these additions reflect some recent development application provides an option calculator. It also shows
in the financial markets or company practice. how to estimate the option’s sensitivity to changes in
We have also changed the introduction to each chapter the inputs and how to measure an option’s risk.
to include summaries of the content of each of the chap-
ter’s sections. We think that this will make it easier for the
reader to understand the organization of the chapter and ⟩ Chapter Structure
to jump forward to a particular topic of interest. Chapters
Each chapter of the book includes an introductory
now also conclude with key takeaway bullet points sum-
preview, a list of key takeaways, and suggested fur-
marizing the chapter’s principal lessons.
ther reading. The list of candidates for further read-
Within each chapter we have interspersed a number
ing is now voluminous. Rather than trying to include
of new self-test questions that provide an opportunity for
every important article, we largely list survey articles
readers to pause and check their understanding. Answers
or general books. We give more specific references in
to these self-tests are located at the end of the chapter.
footnotes.
The Beyond the Page digital extensions and
In addition to the self-test questions within the chap-
applications provide additional examples, anecdotes,
ter, each chapter is followed by a set of problems on
spreadsheet programs, and more detailed explanations
both numerical and conceptual topics, together with a
and practice examples of some topics. This extra material
few challenge problems.
makes it possible to escape from the constraints of the
We include a Finance on the Web section in chapters
printed page by providing more explanation for readers
where it makes sense to do so. This section now houses
who need it and additional material for those who would
a number of Web Projects, along with new Data Anal-
like to dig deeper. There are now more than 150 of these
ysis problems. These exercises seek to familiarize the
apps. They are seamlessly available with a click on the
reader with some useful websites and to explain how to
e-version of the book, but they are also readily accessible
download and process data from the web.
in the traditional hard copy of the text using the shortcut
The book also contains 12 end-of-chapter Mini-
URLs provided in the margins of relevant pages. Check
Cases. These include specific questions to guide the
out mhhe.com/brealey14e to learn more.
case analyses. Answers to the mini-cases are available
Examples of these applications include:
to instructors on the book’s website.
∙ Chapter 2 Would you like to learn more about how Spreadsheet programs such as Excel are tailor-
to use Excel spreadsheets to solve time value of made for many financial calculations. Several chapters
money problems? A Beyond the Page application include boxes that introduce the most useful financial
shows how to do so. functions and provide some short practice questions.
∙ Chapter 3 Do you need to calculate a bond’s dura- We show how to use the Excel function key to locate
tion, see how it predicts the effect of small interest the function and then enter the data. We think that this
rate changes on bond price, calculate the duration of approach is much simpler than trying to remember the
a common stock, or learn how to measure convexity? formula for each function.
The duration app allows you to do so. We conclude the book with a glossary of financial
∙ Chapter 5 Want more practice in valuing annuities? terms.
There is an application that provides worked exam- The 34 chapters in this book are divided into 12 parts.
ples and hands-on practice. Parts 1, 2, and 3 cover valuation and capital investment
Preface ix
decisions, including portfolio theory, asset pricing Anders Axvarn Gothenburg University
models, and the cost of capital. Parts 4 through 9 cover John Banko University of Florida, Gainesville
Michael Barry Boston College
financing decisions, payout policy and capital struc-
Jan Bartholdy Aarhus University
ture, corporate objectives and governance, options, Penny Belk Loughborough University
debt financing, and risk management. Part 10 covers Omar Benkato Ball State University
financial analysis, planning, and working-capital man- Erik Benrud Indiana University
agement. Part 11 covers mergers and acquisitions, and Ronald Benson University of Maryland, University College
Peter Berman University of British Columbia
corporate restructuring. Part 12 concludes.
Kevin Boeh University of Washington
We realize that instructors will wish to select topics Tom Boulton Miami University of Ohio
and may prefer a different sequence. We have therefore Edward Boyer Temple University
written chapters so that topics can be introduced in Alon Brav Duke University
several logical orders. For example, there should be no Jean Canil University of Adelaide
Robert Carlson Bethany College
difficulty in reading the chapters on financial analysis
Chuck Chahyadi Eastern Illinois University
and planning before the chapters on valuation and Chongyang Chen Pacific Lutheran University
capital investment. Fan Chen University of Mississippi
Bill Christie Vanderbilt University
Celtin Ciner University of North Carolina, Wilmington
⟩ Acknowledgments John Cooney Texas Tech University
Charles Cuny Washington University, St. Louis
We have a long list of people to thank for their helpful John Davenport Regent University
criticism of earlier editions and for assistance in pre- Ray DeGennaro University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Adri DeRidder Uppsala University
paring this one. They include Faiza Arshad, Aleijda de
William Dimovski Deakin University, Melbourne
Cazenove Balsan, Donna Cheung, Kedran Garrison, David Ding Nanyang Technological University
Robert Pindyck, and Gretchen Slemmons at MIT; Elroy Robert Duvic University of Texas at Austin
Dimson, Paul Marsh, Mike Staunton, and Stefania Susan Edwards Grand Valley State University
Uccheddu at London Business School; Lynda Borucki, Riza Emekter Robert Morris University
Robert Everett Millersville University
Marjorie Fischer, Larry Kolbe, Michael Vilbert, Bente
Dave Fehr Southern New Hampshire University
Villadsen, and Fiona Wang at The Brattle Group Inc.; Donald Flagg University of Tampa
Alex Triantis at Johns Hopkins University; Adam Frank Flanegin Robert Morris University
Kolasinski at Texas A&M University; Simon Gervais Zsuzanna Fluck Michigan State University
at Duke University; Michael Chui at Bank for Interna- Connel Fullenkamp Duke University
Mark Garmaise University of California, Los Angeles
tional Settlements; Pedro Matos at the University of
Sharon Garrison University of Arizona
Virginia; Yupana Wiwattanakantang at National Uni- Christopher Geczy University of Pennsylvania
versity of Singapore; Nickolay Gantchev at Warwick George Geis University of Virginia
University; Tina Horowitz at the University of Pennsyl- Bradford Gibbs Brown University
vania; Lin Shen at INSEAD; Darien Huang at Tudor Stuart Gillan University of North Texas
Felix Goltz Edhec Business School
Investment; Julie Wulf at Harvard University; Jinghua
Ning Gong Deakin Business School
Yan at SAC Capital; Bennett Stewart at EVA Dimen- Levon Goukasian Pepperdine University
sions; and Mobeen Iqbal, Antoine Uettwiller and Tong Gary Gray Pennsylvania State University
Yu at Imperial College London. C. J. Green Loughborough University
We would also like to thank the dedicated experts Mark Griffiths Miami University
Anthony Gu SUNY Geneseo
who have helped with updates to the instructor mate-
Re-Jin Guo University of Illinois, Chicago
rials and online content in Connect and LearnSmart, Pia Gupta California State University, Long Beach
including Nicholas Racculia. Ann Hackert Idaho State University
We want to express our appreciation to those instruc- Winfried Hallerbach Robeco Asset Management
tors whose insightful comments and suggestions were Milton Harris University of Chicago
Mary Hartman Bentley College
invaluable to us during the revision process:
Glenn Henderson University of Cincinnati
Ibrahim Affaneh Indiana University of Pennsylvania Donna Hitscherich Columbia University
Neyaz Ahmed University of Maryland Ronald Hoffmeister Arizona State University
Alexander Amati University of Connecticut James Howard University of Maryland, College Park
Anne Anderson Middle Tennessee State University George Jabbour George Washington University
Noyan Arsen Koc University Ravi Jagannathan Northwestern University
x Preface
Rev.confirming pages
11
⟩
Part 1 Value
T
income.
his book is about
Corporations
decisions.
Some We
invest how
of these
in real
start assets,
by explaining
corporations
assets, which
such aswhat
make generate
plantthese
financial
decisions
and machinery,
tionThis
is andchapter
investment why
explaining
what its begins
and financing
withmanagers
financial
increasingdecisions
specific do.
the market made
examples of recent
We conclude
by well-known
value of the corpora-
by
cor-
⟩
are and what others,
tangible; they aresuch intended as brandto accomplish.
names and patents, are porations.
tion The middle
is a sensible of the
financial chapter covers what a corpora-
goal.
FINANCE IN PRACTICE
income.money Some
tangible;
raising
Corporations
theyof earn
invest finance
thesefrom
others, such
● ● additional
● cash as
in real their
assets, selling
assets,
suchgoods as plant
brandborrowing
through names and
which generate
investments
andand services,
from
through
machinery,
patents,
banksare
and
or
tionFinancial
ration
is and what
explaining
earnswhy
tion is a sensible
themselves.
managers
a higher
its financial
increasing
increase
returnthe
managers
thanmarket
do. We conclude
value whenever
value of the
shareholders
financial goal. investment opportunities out-
The shareholders’
the corpo-
can corpora-
earn for
by
⟩
Technical note: For log normally distributed returns the annual compound return
govern
or +30%. good Thefinancial
expected decisions,
returnand is ⅓ it shows
(–10 +you 10how+ 30) to use
= is4.equal
A safe
to thedollar is worth
arithmetic averagemore
return than
minus ahalf
risky
the dollar.
variance. For example,
⟩
Pharma stock a large of years. If the odds Management 2 (1996), pp. 157–167; and E. Jacquier, A. Kane, and A. J. Mar-
cus, “Optimal Estimation of the Risk Premium for the Long Run and Asset
Self-Test Questions
are unchanged, the return will be –10% in a third of Allocation: A Case of Compounded Estimation Risk,” Journal of Financial
9.4years,
the Self-Test+10% in a further third, and +30% in the Confirming
are forecastedpages
6.4 Self-Test Econometrics 3 (2005), pp. 37–55. When future returns to distant
remaining years. The arithmetic average of these yearly horizons, the historical arithmetic means are upward-biased. This bias is small
Why does diversification increase the accuracy of beta estimates? Explain briefly.applications, however.
Each chapter includes a number of self-test questions that
Areturns
firm is is considering investment in a new manufacturing plant. inThe most corporate-finance
site is owned by the com-
290
pany, but existing buildings would need to be demolished. Which of the following should be
treated as incremental cash flows?
Part Three Best Practices in Capital B
allow students to check their understanding. Answers to a. The market value of the
9-3 Analyzing Project Risk
b. The market value the
A moresite. sensible method is to take the current interest rate on Treasury bills and add 7.8%,
average
of the existing premium shown in Table 7.1. For
riskbuildings. Chapter 10
example, suppose Project Analysis
that the current interest 283
these questions are given at the end of the chapter. c. Demolition costs and
Ad.business
The cost with high
ratesite
fixed
on Treasury
costs
clearance.bills is 2%. Adding the average risk premium gives
In Section 9.1, we estimated the asset beta for CSX and its company cost of capital. This asset beta
is said to have highr operating
= r + leverage.
normal risk Operating
premium lever- We work back through the t
is an estimate of of
thea average
new access riskroad put inrailroad
of CSX’s last year.business
S f and the company cost of capital
age is usually defined in terms of accounting profits rather than cash flows and is measured
⟩
is a measure
e. Lost cash of the expected
flows on an return
existing onproduct
the company
that willas bea=whole.
0.02 +Not
replaced 0.078
byallthe =new0.098,
railroad or 9.8%
investments
proposal.
Numbered Equations
by the percentage change in profits for each 1% change in sales. Thus the degree of operating
are average
f. Future risk, however.This
depreciation And if you
method
of the neware the afirst
gives
plant. lowerto use railroad-track
expected future return networksbecause as deep-space
interest rates are currently low—2%
leverage (DOL) is
transmission antennas, youinwill have no asset beta to start with
theand the company cost of capital
g. The reduction in the this firm’s example—compared
tax bill resulting with
from historic
depreciation average
of the new of plant.
3.7% in Table 7.1. This gap of 1.7%
percentage
return that change
will not provide a useful guide to the_______________________ you should in profits
demand.
NPV (upside
Where a result can be stated formally, we do so in the form
188 h. The DOLinventories
=
How can initial
you make investment
informedinjudgments of raw
about
percentage materials.
costs
changeof capital
in salesfor projects or lines of business
wheni.you suspect
Money that risk
already spentis on average? That
5 engineering
not is our
design of next
the newtopic. plant.
The following simple formula shows how DOL is related to the business’s fixed costs (includ-
of a numbered equation. However, we are also careful to
A company that wants to set a cost of capital for one particular line of business typically
ing depreciation) as a proportion of pretax profits:
looks for pure plays in that line of business. Pure-play companies are public firms that spe-
cialize in one activity. For example, suppose that CSX needs to assess the risk of investing in NPV (most li
explain the intuition behind a financial theory, so that read- 6-2 Corporate Income Taxes fixed costs including depreciation
____________________________
a bre80948_ch07_184-221.indd
new company headquarters. 188DOL =The 1 + asset beta for railroads is not helpful. You need to (10.1) know 10/18/21 10:05 PM
pretax profits
the beta of commercial real estate. Fortunately, portfolios of commercial real estate are traded.
Companies pay tax on their income. Look at Table 6.1, which shows corporate income tax
ers without a quantitative background should be able to
For example, you could estimate asset betas from returns on Real Estate Investment Trusts
rates in 11 countries.
For example, in year 2Theseof theare the tax
scooter rates imposed by the national governments, but cor-
project,
porations may also need to pay tax to a regional government. For example, in Canada, the
NPV (downsi
read with understanding. provincial governments levy an additional tax (4.5of+between
DOL = 1 + ________ = 4.50
states and some municipalities also impose an extra
1.5) 11% and 16%. In the United States,
1.72layer of corporate tax that averages around
4%. To complicate matters further, in many countries, the first part of income may be taxed at
⟩
a lower
A rate, orin
1% increase special arrangements
the project’s may applywould
year 2 revenues to some
resulttypes
in aof4.5% business.
rise in profits.
Additional resources and hands-on applications are just a click of X’s costs are fixed. China
France pharmaceutical program at this point in the de
25
33
away. Students can use the web address or click on the icon in X = High Fixed Cost
Germany
India
Slump
project
Y = Low Fixed Cost
Normal Boom
Now calculate the NPV a
16
30
Slump Normal Boom
mhhe.com/brealey14e
the eBook to learn more about key concepts and try out calcu- two years later depends on wh
Ireland 13
Revenue
Japan 22.5 30 40
2322.5 30 40
− Variable cost 9 12 16 19 12 16 21.3
lations, tables, and figures when they go Beyond the Page. − Fixed cost United States
− Depreciation
8
6
8
6
8
6
21 4
6
xi
4
6
4
6
⟩
TABLE 6.1 National corporate tax rates.
= Pretax profit −0.5 4 10 chance of cancellation
0.5 and NP 4 8.7
Source: PWC, Worldwide Tax Summaries: Corporate Taxes, 2018–2020, www.taxsummaries.pwc.com.
successful:
In normal times, the two companies earn the same profits, but X’s high fixed costs mean There is a 44% ch
ment is $18 million. Therefor
that it suffers more in a slump and gains more in a boom. As the economy moves from normal
to boom, revenues for both companies increase by 33.3%. For X with its high fixed costs,
profits increase by 150%, 4.5 times the increase in revenues. So DOL = 4.5. We get exactly
Excel Confirming pages
⟩ Spreadsheet Functions
USEFUL SPREADSHEET FUNCTIONS
Boxes ● ● ● ● ●
These boxes provide detailed examples Estimating Stock and Market Risk
of how to use Excel spreadsheets when ⟩Spreadsheets such as Excel have some built-in statistical
functions that are useful for calculating risk measures.
on each pair of stocks. These functions calculate the
covariance.
applying financial concepts. Questions You can find these functions by clicking fx on the Excel
toolbar. If you then click on the function that you wish to
6. RSQ: R-squared is the square of the correlation
coefficient and is useful for measuring the propor-
that apply to the spreadsheet follow for use, Excel will ask you for the inputs that it needs. At the
bottom left of the function box, there is a Help facility
tion of the variance of a stock’s returns that can be
explained by the market.
additional practice. with an example of how the function is used.
Here is a list of useful functions for estimating stock
7. AVERAGE: Calculates the average of any series of
numbers.
and market risk. You can enter the inputs for all these
functions as numbers or as the addresses of cells that con- If, say, you need to know the standard error of your
tain the numbers. Note that different versions of Excel estimate of beta, you can obtain more detailed statistics
may use slightly different names for these functions. by going to the Tools menu and clicking on Data Analysis
and then on Regression.
1. VAR.P and STDEV.P: Calculate variance and stan-
dard deviation of a series of numbers, as shown in Spreadsheet Questions
Section 7-2.
The following questions provide opportunities to practice
2. VAR.S and STDEV.S: Footnote 12 of Chapter 7 each of the Excel functions.
noted that when variance is estimated from a sample
1. (VAR.P and STDEV.P) Choose two well-known
of observations (the usual case), a correction should
stocks and download the latest 61 months of adjusted
be made for the loss of a degree of freedom. VAR.S
prices from finance.yahoo.com. Calculate the
and STDEV.S provide the corrected measures. For
monthly returns for each stock. Now find the vari-
any large sample VAR.S and VAR.P will be similar.
ance and standard deviation of the returns for each
3. SLOPE: Useful for calculating the beta of a stock stock by using VAR.P and STDEV.P. Annualize
or portfolio. the variance by multiplying by 12 and the standard
4. CORREL: Useful for calculating the correlation deviation by multiplying by the square root of 12.
between the returns on any two investments. 2. (AVERAGE, VAR.P, and STDEV.P) Now calculate
5. COVARIANCE.P and COVARIANCE.S: Portfolio the annualized variance and standard deviation for a
risk depends on the covariance between the returns portfolio that each month has equal holdings in the
two stocks. Is the result more or less than the average
of the standard deviations of the two stocks? Why?
3. (SLOPE) Download the Standard & Poor’s index for
^
the same period (its symbol is GSPC). Find the beta of
each stock and of the portfolio. (Note: You need to enter
the stock returns as the Y-values and market returns as
the X-values.) Is the beta of the portfolio more or less
than the average of the betas of the two stocks?
4. (CORREL) Calculate the correlation between the
returns on the two stocks. Use this measure and
your earlier estimates of each stock’s variance to
calculate the variance of a portfolio that is evenly
divided between the two stocks. (You may need to
reread Section 7-3 to refresh your memory of how
to do this.) Check that you get the same answer as
when you calculated the portfolio variance directly. Rev.confirming pages
5. (COVARIANCE.P) Repeat Question 4, but now cal-
culate the covariance directly rather than from the
Microsoft Excel correlations and variances.
267
Chapter 6 Making Investment Decisions with the Net Present Value Rule 161
Table 6.3 derives the expected cash flows from the accounting data in Table 6.2 BEYOND THE PAGE
Chapter 11 How to Ensure That Projects Truly Have Positive NPVs 323
End-of-Chapter Features
∙ The technology for making BGs will not change. Capital and production costs will stay
the same in real terms.
∙ Competitors know the technology and can enter as soon as the patent expires, that is, they Confirming pages
can construct new plants in year 5 and start selling BGs in year 6.
∙ If your company invests immediately, full production begins after 12 months, that is, in
year 1.
∙ There are no taxes.
∙ BG production facilities last 12 years. They have no salvage value at the end of their useful life.
320 Part Three Best Practices in Capital Budgeting
16. Economic rents (S11.3) How would your answer to Problem 15 change if technological
⟩
improvements reduce the cost of new BG production facilities by 3% per year? Thus a new
Problem Sets plant
● ●built
● ●in●year 1 would cost only 25 (1 − 0.03) = $24.25 million, a plant built in year 2
would cost $23.52 million, and so on. Assume that production® costs per unit remain at $65.
Select problems are available in McGraw-Hill’s Connect.
17.PROBLEM SETS
Beside each end-of-chapter problem we note the Economic rents (S11.3) Reevaluate the NPV of the proposed polyzone
Please project
see the (Example
preface
under each of the following assumptions. What’s the right management decision in each case?
11.6)information.
for more
section of the chapter to which the question relates. a. Spread in year 4 holds1.atBehavioral biases (S11.1) Explain why setting a higher discount rate is not a cure for upward-
$1.20 per pound.
biased cash-flow forecasts.
b. The U.S. chemical company can start up polyzone production at 40 million pounds in year
This helps instructors create assignments and makes 1 rather than year 2. 2. Behavioral biases (S11.1) Look back to the cash flows for projects F and G in Section 5-3.
c. The U.S. company makesects
The cost of capital was assumed to be 10%. Assume that the forecasted cash flows for proj-
a technological advance that reduces itsaverage.
annual production
That is, thecosts
it simpler for students to look back for help. These
of this type are overstated by 8% on forecast for each cash flow from
to $25 million. Competitors’ production costs do not change.
each project should be reduced by 8%. But a lazy financial manager, unwilling to take the
time to argue with the projects’ sponsors, instructs
18. Equilibrium prices (S11.3) Demand for concave utility meters is expanding rapidly, them tobut
usethe
a discount rate of 18%.
end-of-chapter problems give students hands-on industry is highly competitive. A utility
a. What are meter plant costs
the projects’ true $50
NPVs? million to set up, and it has an
annual capacity of 500,000b.meters. The production cost is $5 per
What are the NPVs at the 18% discount rate?meter, and this cost is not
practice with key concepts and applications. expected to change. The machines have any
c. Are there
10%. What is the competitive price ofCould
an indefinite physical
circumstances
a utility
life and
in which the the
18%cost of capital
discount is
rate would
meter?bias be more severe for more-distant cash flows?)
give the correct NPVs?
(Hint: upward
a. $5
3. Market values (S11.2) Your brother-in-law wants you to join him in purchasing a building on
b. $10 the outskirts of town. You and he would then develop and run a Taco Palace restaurant. Both of
c. $15 you are extremely optimistic about future real estate prices in this area, and your brother-in-law
has prepared a cash-flow forecast that implies a large positive NPV. This calculation assumes
19. Opportunity costs (S11.3) New-model commercial airplanes are much more fuel-efficient Firstahead?
pages
sale of the property after 10 years. What further calculations should you do before going
than older models. How is it possible for airlines flying older models to make money when its
4. Market
competitors are flying newer planes?values
Explain(S11.2) Suppose that you are considering investing in an asset for which there
briefly.
is a reasonably good secondary market. Specifically, your company is Delta Airlines, and the
asset is a Boeing 767—a widely used airplane. How does the presence of a secondary market
simplify your problem in principle? Do you think these simplifications could be realized in
CHALLENGE PROBLEMSpractice? Explain.
686 Part Seven Options
20. Economic rents (S11.3)5.Accidental
Market values setbacks (S11.2) There in
can result is negative
an active,rents
competitive leasing
in any year. But(i.e., rental) market for most
can a project have expected standard typesin
positive rents ofsome
commercial
years and jets.negative
Many ofexpected
the planes flown
rents by the major domestic and inter-
in other
years? Explain. Mason national airlines
and Merton are not
review owned
a range by them
of option but leased to
applications forcorporate
periods ranging
finance:from a few months to
S.The
several and
P. Mason
years. Gamma Airlines, however, owns two long-range DC-11s just withdrawn from
21. Economic rents (S11.3) manufacture R. C.ofMerton, “Theacid
polysyllabic Roleisofa Contingent
competitiveClaims
industry.Analysis
Most in Corporate Finance,” in E.
Latin
I. Altman American
and M.tons. service. Gamma
G. Subrahmanyam, is considering using these planes to develop the potentially
plants have an annual output of 100,000 Operating costseds., are Recent
$0.90 aAdvances
ton, andinthe sales Finance (Homewood, IL:
Corporate
lucrative
Richard D. new
Irwin, route from Akron to Yellowknife. A considerable investment in terminal facili-
price is $1 a ton. A 100,000-ton plant costs1985).
$100,000 and has an indefinite life. Its current
scrap value of $60,000 Brennan ties, training,
is expected to and advertising
decline to $57,900 will be
over therequired.
next two Once
years. committed, Gamma will have to operate
and Schwartz have worked out an interesting application to natural resource investments:
the route for at least three years. One further complication: The manager of Gamma’s interna-
Phlogiston Inc. proposes to invest
M. J.tional
Brennan and$100,000
division in a plant
E.isS.opposing
Schwartz, that employs
“Evaluating
commitment theaplanes
Natural
of new low-cost
Resource pro-
to theInvestments,” Journal of
Akron–Yellowknife Business
route 58
because
cess to manufacture polysyllabic
(April acid. The
1985),
of anticipated plantgrowth
pp.future
135–157. has theinsame capacity
traffic through asGamma’s
existing units,
new hub but in Ulaanbaatar. How would
operating costs are $0.85 a you
Myers ton. Phlogiston
andevaluate
Read cover theestimates
proposed
the tax andthat it has two
Akron–Yellowknife
financing years’ project?
implicationsleadofover each
realGive a of
options.detailed list of the necessary
its rivals in use of the process but is your
unable to build any more howplants itself before year 2. Also
S. C. steps
Myersinand analysis.
J. A. Explain
Read, “Real Options, the airplane
Taxes leasing
and Leverage,” market
Criticalwould be taken
Finance into
Review account.
9 (June If
2020),
it believes that demand over the
the
pp. next two
project
29–76. years is likely
is attractive, to be sluggish
how would you respondand that
to theitsmanager
new plant of the international division?
will therefore cause temporary overcapacity.
6. Market values (S11.2) Suppose the current price of gold is $1,200 an ounce. Hotshot Con-
You can assume that there are no taxes and that the cost of capital is 10%.
● ● ● ● ● sultants advises you that gold prices will increase at an average rate of 12% for the next two
years. After that the growth rate will fall to a long-run trend of 3% per year. What is the pres-
PROBLEM SETS ent value of 1 million ounces ® ofSelect problems
gold produced inare
eightavailable in McGraw
years? Assume Hill’s
that gold prices have a
Connect.
beta of 0 and that the risk-free rate Please see the preface for more information.
is 5.5%.
7. Market
1. Expansionvalues (S11.2)
options On the
(S23.1) London
Look againMetals
at the Exchange,
valuation inthe price23.2
Table for copper to be delivered
of the option to invest
in
in one year isII$5,500
the Mark project.a Consider
ton. (Note: Paymentiniseach
a change madeof when the copper
the following is delivered.)
inputs. Would the The risk-
change
bre80948_ch11_301-326.indd 323
free interest
increase rate is 2%
or decrease theand the of
value expected market option?
the expansion return is 8%. 10/01/21 03:26 PM
a.
a. Suppose
Increasedthat you expect
uncertainty to produce
(higher anddeviation).
standard sell 10,000 tons of copper next year. What is the
PV of this output? Assume that the sale occurs at the end of the year.
b. More optimistic forecast (higher expected value) of the Mark II in 1985.
b. If copper has a beta of 1.2, what is the expected price of copper at the end of the year?
c. Increase in the required investment in 1985.
What is the certainty-equivalent end-year price?
2. Expansion options (S23.1) Look again at Table 23.2. How does the value in 1982 of the
option to invest in the Mark II change if
a. The investment required for the Mark II is $800 million (vs. $900 million)?
b. The present value of the Mark II in 1982 is $500 million (vs. $467 million)?
⟩
c. The standard deviation of the Mark II’s present value is only 20% (vs. 35%)?
real estate. The exercise price is $2 million, and the current, appraised market value of the
land is $1.7 million. The land is currently used as a parking lot, generating just enough money
Most chapters contain problems, denoted by an icon, Try it! The
Black-Scholes
to cover real estate taxes. The annual standard deviation is 15% and the interest rate 12%.
How much is your call worth? Use the Black–Scholes formula. You may find it helpful to go
specifically linked to Excel spreadsheets that are
model
mhhe.com/brealey14e to the spreadsheet for Chapter 22, which calculates Black–Scholes values (see the Beyond the
Page feature).
available in Connect and through the Beyond the 4. Expansion options (S23.1) A variation on Problem 3: Suppose the land is occupied by a
warehouse generating rents of $150,000 after real estate taxes and all other out-of-pocket
Page features. costs. The present value of the land plus warehouse is again $1.7 million. Other facts are as in
Problem 3. You have a European call option. What is it worth?
5. R&D (S23.1) Construct a sensitivity analysis of the value of the pharmaceutical R&D project
described in Figure 23.2. What input assumptions are most critical for the NPV of the proj-
ect? Be sure to check the inputs to valuing the real option to invest at year 2.
6. Real options and put-call parity (S23.2) Redo the example in Figure 23.2, assuming that
the real option is a put option allowing the company to abandon the R&D program if com-
mercial prospects are sufficiently poor at year 2. Use put-call parity. The NPV of the drug at
date 0 should again be +$7.7 million.
7. Timing options (S23.2) You own a parcel of vacant land. You can develop it now, or wait.
a. What is the advantage of waiting?
b. Why might you decide to develop the property immediately?
xiii
Rev.confirming pages
FINANCE ON
These web exercises give THE WEB
You can download data for Questions 1 and 2 from finance.yahoo.com. Refer to the Useful
Spreadsheet Functions box near the end of Chapter 9 for information on Excel functions.
students the opportunity to 1. Download to a spreadsheet the last three years of monthly adjusted stock prices for Coca-
Cola (KO), Citigroup (C), and Pfizer (PFE).
explore financial websites on a. Calculate the monthly returns.
their own. The web exercises b. Calculate the monthly standard deviation of those returns (see Section 7-2). Use the
Excel function STDEV.P to check your answer. Find the annualized standard deviation
Confirming pages
⟩ Mini-Cases MINI-CASE ● ● ● ● ●
ciated straight-line over 15 years starting in year 3. As in the case of the company’s other develop-
ments, the mall would be built to the highest specifications and would not need to be rebuilt until
year 17. The land was expected to retain its value, but could not be depreciated for tax purposes.
Construction costs, revenues, operating and maintenance costs, and local real estate taxes were
all likely to rise in line with inflation, which was forecasted at 2% a year. Local real estate taxes
are deductible for corporate tax. The company’s corporate tax rate was 25% and the cost of capital
was 9% in nominal terms.
George decided first to check that the project made financial sense. He then proposed to look at
some of the things that might go wrong. His boss certainly had a nose for a good retail project, but
he was not infallible. The Salome project had been a disaster because store sales had turned out to
be 40% below forecast. What if that happened here? George wondered just how far sales could fall
short of forecast before the project would be underwater.
Inflation was another source of uncertainty. Some people were talking about a zero long-term
inflation rate, but George also wondered what would happen if inflation jumped to, say, 10%.
A third concern was possible construction cost overruns and delays due to required zoning
changes and environmental approvals. George had seen cases of 25% construction cost overruns
and delays up to 12 months between purchase of the land and the start of construction. He decided
that he should examine the effect that this would have on the project’s profitability. But he realized
Year
0 1 2 3 4 5–17
Investment:
Land 30
Construction 20 30 10
Operations:
Rentals 12 12 12
Share of retail sales 24 24 24
Operating and maintenance costs 2 4 4 10 10 10
Local real estate taxes 2 2 3 4 4 4
⟩ TABLE 10.6 Projected revenues and costs in real terms for the Downeast
Tourist Mall (figures in $ millions).
xiv
bre80948_ch10_276-300.indd 299 09/30/21 06:40 PM
Supplements
xv
xvi Supplements
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PowerPoint slides. tize their time, and come to class ready to participate.
∙ Solutions Manual The Solutions Manual contains
solutions to all basic, intermediate, and challenge Student Study Center
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∙ Test Bank The Test Bank contains hundreds dents to access additional resources. The Student Study
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of additional examples, explanations, and applica- student, section, and class is performing, allowing for
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all denoted by an icon. They correlate with specific
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Tegrity in Connect is
Boxes are sprinkled throughout the text to provide
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SmartBook®, powered is easy to search, frame by frame. Students can replay
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most important concepts a student needs to learn at learn. In fact, studies prove it. Tegrity’s unique search
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highlighting content based on what the student knows recordings. Help turn your students’ study time into
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SmartBook’s real-time reports to quickly identify the about note-taking. Using Tegrity in Connect will make
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students—or the entire class. The end result? Students of their heads.
Supplements xvii
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Grading
7 Introduction to Risk, Diversification, 24 Credit Risk and the Value of Corporate Debt 691
and Portfolio Selection 184 25 The Many Different Kinds of Debt 710
8 The Capital Asset Pricing Model 222 26 Leasing 744
9 Risk and the Cost of Capital 248
I Part Nine: Risk Management
I Part Three: Best Practices in Capital
Budgeting 27 Managing Risk 763
28 International Financial Management 799
10 Project Analysis 276
11 How to Ensure That Projects Truly Have I Part Ten: Financial Planning and Working
Positive NPVs 301
Capital Management
I Part Four: Financing Decisions and 29 Financial Analysis 828
Market Efficiency 30 Financial Planning 857
31 Working Capital Management 888
12 Efficient Markets and Behavioral Finance 327
13 An Overview of Corporate Financing 368
I Part Eleven: Mergers, Corporate Control,
14 How Corporations Issue Securities 399
and Governance
I Part Five: Payout Policy and Capital 32 Mergers 918
Structure 33 Corporate Restructuring 950
xx
Contents
1 Introduction to Corporate
Finance 1 3 Valuing Bonds 52
1-1 Corporate Investment and Financing 3-1 Using the Present Value Formula to Value
Decisions 2 Bonds 53
Investment Decisions/Financing Decisions/What Is A Short Trip to Paris to Value a Government Bond/
a Corporation?/The Role of the Financial Manager Back to the United States: Semiannual Coupons
and Bond Prices
1-2 The Financial Goal of the Corporation 8
Shareholders Want Managers to Maximize 3-2 How Bond Prices Vary with Yields 57
Market Value/A Fundamental Result: Why Duration and Interest-Rate Sensitivity
Maximizing Shareholder Wealth Makes Sense/ 3-3 The Term Structure of Interest Rates 62
Should Managers Maximize Shareholder Wealth?/ Spot Rates, Bond Prices, and the Law of One
The Investment Trade-Off/Agency Problems and Price/Measuring the Term Structure/Why the
Corporate Governance Discount Factor Declines as Futurity Increases
1-3 Key Questions in Corporate Finance 14 3-4 Explaining the Term Structure 68
• •
Key Takeaways 15 Problem Sets 16 Solutions to Expectations Theory of the Term Structure/Interest
•
Self-Test Questions 18 Appendix: Why Maximizing Rate Risk/Inflation Risk
Shareholder Value Makes Sense 19 3-5 Real and Nominal Interest Rates 70
Indexed Bonds and the Real Rate of Interest/What
2 How to Calculate Present Determines the Real Rate of Interest?/Inflation and
Values 21 Nominal Interest Rates
3-6 The Risk of Default 74
2-1 How to Calculate Future and Present Values 22 Corporate Bonds and Default Risk/Sovereign
Calculating Future Values/Calculating Present Bonds and Default Risk
Values/Valuing an Investment Opportunity/Net
Present Value/Risk and Present Value/Present •
Key Takeaways 77 Further Reading 78 Problem •
Values and Rates of Return/Calculating Present •
Sets 78 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 83 •
Values When There Are Multiple Cash Flows/The Finance on the Web 83
Opportunity Cost of Capital
2-2 How to Value Perpetuities and Annuities 30 4 Valuing Stocks 84
How to Value Perpetuities/How to Value Annuities/
Valuing Annuities Due/Calculating Annual 4-1 How Stocks Are Traded 85
Payments/Future Value of an Annuity Trading Results for Cummins/Market Price vs.
2-3 How to Value Growing Perpetuities and Book Value
Annuities 37 4-2 Valuation by Comparables 88
Growing Perpetuities/Growing Annuities 4-3 Dividends and Stock Prices 90
xxi
xxii Contents
Dividends and Capital Gains/Two Versions of the Rule 1: Discount Cash Flows, Not Profits/Rule 2:
Dividend Discount Model Discount Incremental Cash Flows and Ignore Non-
4-4 Dividend Discount Model Applications 95 Incremental Cash Flows/Rule 3: Treat Inflation
Using the Constant-Growth DCF Model to Set Consistently/Rule 4: Separate Investment and
Water, Gas, and Electricity Prices/DCF Models Financing Decisions/Rule 5: Forecast Cash Flows
with Two or More Stages of Growth after Taxes
4-5 Income Stocks and Growth Stocks 101 6-2 Corporate Income Taxes 157
Calculating the Present Value of Growth Depreciation Deductions/Tax on Salvage Value/Tax
Opportunities for Establishment Electronics Loss Carry-Forwards
4-6 Valuation Based on Free Cash Flow 105 6-3 A Worked Example of a Project Analysis 159
Valuing the Concatenator Business/Valuation The Three Components of Project Cash Flows/Cash
Format/Estimating Horizon Value Flow from Capital Investment/Operating Cash Flow/
Investment in Working Capital/How to Construct a
• •
Key Takeaways 110 Problem Sets 112 Solutions to Set of Cash Flow Forecasts: An Example/Capital
•
Self-Test Questions 116 Finance on the Web 117 • Investment/Operating Cash Flow/Investment in
Mini-Case: Reeby Sports 117 Working Capital/Accelerated Depreciation and
First-Year Expensing/Project Analysis
5 Net Present Value and Other 6-4 How to Choose between Competing
Investment Criteria 119 Projects 165
Problem 1: The Investment Timing Decision/
5-1 A Review of the Net Present Value Rule 119 Problem 2: The Choice between Long- and Short-
Net Present Value’s Competitors/Five Points to Lived Equipment/Problem 3: When to Replace an
Remember about NPV Old Machine/Problem 4: Cost of Excess Capacity
5-2 The Payback and Accounting Rate of Return
Rules 123
•
Key Takeaways 171 Further Reading 172 Problem •
The Payback Rule/Accounting Rate of Return
•
Sets 172 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 180 •
Mini-Case: New Economy Transport (A) 181 New •
5-3 The Internal Rate of Return Rule 126 Economy Transport (B) 182
Calculating the IRR/The IRR Rule/Pitfall 1—
Lending or Borrowing?/Pitfall 2—Multiple Rates
of Return/Pitfall 3—Mutually Exclusive Projects/ I Part Two: Risk
Pitfall 4—What Happens When There Is More
Than One Opportunity Cost of Capital/The Verdict
on IRR 7 Introduction to Risk, Diversification,
5-4 Choosing Capital Investments When Resources
and Portfolio Selection 184
Are Limited 135 7-1 The Relationship between Risk and Return 184
How Important Is Capital Rationing in Practice? Over a Century of Capital Market History/Using
•
Key Takeaways 139 Further Reading 140 Problem • Historical Evidence to Evaluate Today’s Cost of
•
Sets 140 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 145 • Capital
Mini-Case: Vegetron’s CFO Calls Again 146 7-2 How to Measure Risk 190
Variance and Standard Deviation/Calculating
Risk/Estimating Future Risk
6 Making Investment Decisions with
the Net Present Value Rule 149 7-3 How Diversification Reduces Risk 195
Specific and Systematic Risk/Diversification
6-1 Forecasting a Project’s Cash Flows 150 with Many Stocks
Contents xxiii
7-4 Systematic Risk Is Market Risk 201 9-3 Analyzing Project Risk 257
Portfolio Choice with Borrowing and 1. The Determinants of Asset Betas/2. Don’t
Lending/Market Risk Be Fooled by Diversifiable Risk/3. Avoid Fudge
7-5 Should Companies Diversify? 209 Factors in Discount Rates/Discount Rates for
International Projects
•
Key Takeaways 210 Further Reading 211 Problem • Certainty Equivalents 263
•
Sets 212 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 219 • 9-4
Finance on the Web 220 •
Key Takeaways 266 Further Reading 268 Problem •
•
Sets 268 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 273 •
•
Finance on the Web 273 Mini-Case: The Jones
8 The Capital Asset Pricing Family Incorporated 273
Model 222
8-1 Market Risk Is Measured by Beta 222 I Part Three: Best Practices in Capital
The Market Portfolio/Why Betas Determine Budgeting
Portfolio Risk
8-2 The Relationship between Risk and Return 228 10 Project Analysis 276
What If a Stock Did Not Lie on the Security Market
Line?/The Capital Market Line and the Security 10-1 Sensitivity and Scenario Analysis 277
Market Line/The Logic behind the Capital Asset Value of Information/Limits to Sensitivity Analysis/
Pricing Model/Intuition: Why Do High Beta and Stress Tests and Scenario Analysis
High Returns Go Together?/Applying the Capital 10-2 Break-Even Analysis and Operating
Asset Pricing Model Leverage 281
8-3 Does the CAPM Hold in the Real World? 233 Break-Even Analysis/Operating Leverage
How Large Is the Return for Risk?/Are Returns 10-3 Real Options and the Value of Flexibility 284
Unrelated to All Other Characteristics? The Option to Expand/The Option to Abandon/
8-4 Some Alternative Theories 237 Production Options/Timing Options/More on
Arbitrage Pricing Theory/A Comparison of the Decision Trees/Pro and Con Decision Trees
Capital Asset Pricing Model and Arbitrage Pricing
•
Key Takeaways 291 Further Reading 292 Problem •
Theory/The Three-Factor Model
•
Sets 292 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 298 •
•
Key Takeaways 241 Further Reading 242 Problem • Mini-Case: Waldo County 299
•
Sets 242 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 246 •
Finance on the Web 247 11 How to Ensure That Projects Truly
Have Positive NPVs 301
9 Risk and the Cost of Capital 248 11-1 Behavioral Biases in Investment Decisions 302
11-2 Avoiding Forecast Errors 303
9-1 Company and Project Costs of Capital 249 11-3 How Competitive Advantage Translates into
Company Cost of Capital for CSX/Three Positive NPVs 308
Warnings/What about Investments That Are 11-4 Marvin Enterprises Decides to Exploit a New
Not Average Risk?/Perfect Pitch and the Cost Technology—An Example 312
of Capital Forecasting Prices of Gargle Blasters/The Value
9-2 Estimating Beta and the Company Cost of of Marvin’s New Expansion/Alternative Expansion
Capital 254 Plans/The Value of Marvin Stock/The Lessons of
Estimating Beta/Portfolio Betas Marvin Enterprises
xxiv Contents
•
Key Takeaways 319 Further Reading 319 Problem • 13-3 Debt 375
•
Sets 320 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 325 • The Different Kinds of Debt/A Debt by Any Other Name
Mini-Case: Ecsy-Cola 326 13-4 The Role of the Financial System 378
The Payment Mechanism/Borrowing and Lending/
Pooling Risk/Information Provided by Financial
I Part Four: Financing Decisions and Markets
Market Efficiency 13-5 Financial Markets and Intermediaries 381
Financial Intermediaries/Investment Funds/
12 Efficient Markets and Behavioral Financial Institutions
Finance 327 13-6 Financial Markets and Intermediaries around
12-1 Differences between Investment and Financing the World 387
Conglomerates and Internal Capital Markets
Decisions 328
NPV Matters for Both Investment and 13-7 The Fintech Revolution 391
Financing Decisions/The NPV of Financing Payment Systems/Person-to-Person Lending/
Decisions Is Zero in Efficient Markets/The Crowdfunding/AI/ML Credit Scoring/Distributed
NPV of Financing Decisions in Inefficient Ledgers and Blockchains/Cryptocurrencies/Initial
Markets Coin Offerings
12-2 The Efficient Market Hypothesis 330 •
Key Takeaways 394 Further Reading 395 Problem •
Forms of Market Efficiency/Why Do We Expect •
Sets 396 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 398 •
Markets to Be Efficient? Finance on the Web 398
12-3 Implications of Market Efficiency 335
What Market Efficiency Does Not Imply/What if
Markets Are Not Efficient? Implications for the 14 How Corporations Issue
Financial Manager Securities 399
12-4 Are Markets Efficient? The Evidence 345 14-1 Venture Capital 399
Weak-Form Efficiency/Semistrong-Form The Venture Capital Market
Efficiency/Strong-Form Efficiency
14-2 The Initial Public Offering 404
12-5 Behavioral Finance 352 The Public-Private Choice/Arranging an Initial
Sentiment/Limits to Arbitrage/Agency and Incentive Public Offering/The Sale of Marvin Stock/The
Problems Underwriters/Costs of a New Issue/Underpricing
•
Key Takeaways 360 Further Reading 361 Problem • of IPOs/Hot New-Issue Periods/The Long-Run
•
Sets 362 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 366 • Performance of IPO Stocks/Alternative Issue
Procedures/Types of Auction: A Digression
Finance on the Web 367
14-3 Security Sales by Public Companies 416
Public Offers/The Costs of a Public Offer/Rights
13 An Overview of Corporate Issues/Market Reaction to Stock Issues
Financing 368
14-4 Private Placements 421
13-1 Patterns of Corporate Financing 369 •
Key Takeaways 422 Further Reading 423 Problem •
How Much Do Firms Borrow? •
Sets 423 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 429 •
13-2 Equity 372 •
Finance on the Web 429 Appendix: Marvin’s
Ownership of the Corporation/Preferred Stock New-Issue Prospectus 430
Contents xxv
18-3 Using WACC in Practice 528 Ownership and Control in Japan/Ownership and
Some Tricks of the Trade/Adjusting WACC when Control in Germany/Ownership and Control in
Debt Ratios and Business Risks Differ/Three- Other Countries
Step Procedure for Finding WACCs at Different 19-7 Do These Differences Matter? 581
Debt Ratios/Unlevering and Relevering Betas/ Public Market Myopia/Growth Industries and
Calculating Divisional WACCs/The Assumption of Declining Industries
a Constant Debt Ratio in the After-Tax WACC/The
Modigliani–Miller Formula • •
Key Takeaways 583 Further Reading 584 Problem
18-4 Adjusted Present Value 536 •
Sets 585 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 587 •
APV for the Perpetual Crusher/Other Financing Finance on the Web 587
Side Effects/APV for Entire Businesses/APV
and Limits on Interest Deductions/APV for
International Investments
20 Stakeholder Capitalism and
Responsible Business 588
18-5 Your Questions Answered 541
•
Key Takeaways 543 Further Reading 544 Problem • 20-1 Who Are the Stakeholders? 589
•
Sets 545 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 549 • Employees/Customers/Suppliers/Local and
•
Finance on the Web 550 Appendix: Discounting
Regional Communities/The Environment/
•
Safe, Nominal Cash Flows 551 A Consistency
The Government
19-4 Monitoring by Auditors, Lenders, and Potential 20-5 Responsible Business in Practice 605
Acquirers 566 Shareholder Primacy in the United States
Auditors/Lenders/Takeovers and United Kingdom/Benefit Corporations/
B Corps/Purpose/Reporting
19-5 Management Compensation 568
Compensation Facts and Controversies/The • •
Key Takeaways 611 Further Reading 612 Problem
Structure of CEO Pay •
Sets 612 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 613 •
19-6 Government Regimes around the World 575 Finance on the Web 613
Contents xxvii
The Value of a Convertible at Maturity/ Reducing the Risk of Cash Shortfalls or Financial
Forcing Conversion/Why Do Companies Issue Distress/Agency Costs May Be Mitigated by
Convertibles?/Valuing Convertible Bonds/A Risk Management/The Evidence on Risk
Variation on Convertible Bonds: The Bond– Management
Warrant Package/Innovation in the Bond Market 27-2 Insurance 767
25-3 Bank Loans 727 27-3 Reducing Risk with Financial Options 769
Commitment/Maturity/Rate of Interest/Syndicated 27-4 Forward and Futures Contracts 770
Loans/Security/Loan Covenants A Simple Forward Contract/Futures Exchanges/
25-4 Commercial Paper and Medium-Term The Mechanics of Futures Trading/Trading
Notes 731 and Pricing Financial Futures Contracts/Spot
Commercial Paper/Medium-Term Notes and Futures Prices—Commodities/More about
Forwards and Futures
•
Key Takeaways 733 Further Reading 734 • 27-5 Interest Rate Risk 776
•
Problem Sets 734 Solutions to Self-Test
Forward Rates of Interest and the Term Structure/
•
Questions 739 Mini-Case: The Shocking Demise of Borrowing and Lending at Forward Interest Rates/
•
Mr. Thorndike 740 Appendix: Project Finance 741 • Forward Rate Agreements/Interest Rate Futures
Appendix Further Reading 743
27-6 Swaps 779
Interest Rate Swaps/Currency Swaps/Some
26 Leasing 744 Other Swaps
27-7 How to Set Up a Hedge 783
26-1 What Is a Lease? 744
Hedging Interest Rate Risk/Hedge Ratios and
26-2 Why Lease? 746 Basis Risk
Sensible Reasons for Leasing/A Dubious Reason
for Leasing 27-8 Is “Derivative” a Four-Letter Word? 787
• •
Key Takeaways 820 Further Reading 821 Problem 30-6 The Relationship between Growth and External
• •
Sets 822 Solutions to Self-Test 825 Finance on the Financing 875
•
Web 826 Mini-Case: Exacta, s.a. 826 • •
Key Takeaways 877 Further Reading 877 Problem
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Sets 878 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 885 •
Finance on the Web 887
I Part Ten: Financial Planning and Working
Capital Management
31 Working Capital Management 888
29 Financial Analysis 828 31-1 The Working Capital Requirement 888
The Cash Cycle
29-1 Understanding Financial Statements 829
The Balance Sheet/The Income Statement 31-2 Managing Inventories 892
31-3 Accounts Receivable Management 894
29-2 Measuring Company Performance 833
Terms of Sale/Credit Analysis/The Credit Decision/
Economic Value Added/Accounting Rates of
Collection Policy
Return/Problems with EVA and Accounting Rates
of Return 31-4 Cash Management 900
How Purchases Are Paid For/Changes in Check
29-3 Measuring Efficiency 838
Usage/Speeding Up Check Collections/Electronic
The DuPont Formula/Other Efficiency Measures
Payment Systems/International Cash Management/
29-4 Measuring Leverage 841 Paying for Bank Services
Leverage and the Return on Equity
31-5 Investing Surplus Cash 904
29-5 Measuring Liquidity 844 Investment Choices/Calculating the Yield on
29-6 Interpreting Financial Ratios 846 Money Market Investments/Returns on Money
• •
Key Takeaways 849 Further Reading 849 Problem Market Investments/The International Money
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Sets 850 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 855 • Market/Money Market Instruments
Finance on the Web 855 • •
Key Takeaways 909 Further Reading 910 Problem
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Sets 910 Solutions to Self-Test Questions 916 •
30 Financial Planning 857 Finance on the Web 917
He had brought her back home. Languorous and bemused she stepped
out upon the bank in the breaking dawn, and turned to look at him beneath
her heavy lids. She could not see him clearly, he seemed blurred, far away.
‘Good-bye,’ he said briefly.
‘I’ll see you before you go,’ she said mechanically.
Not that it really mattered now. Time was not any more and he would be
with her for ever.
He nodded; and then abruptly turned the canoe down stream again:
looked at her once, faintly smiled, waved his hand an instant and went on.
She walked through the waiting, clear pale-coloured garden, into the
house, up to her bedroom; stared in the dim glass at her strange face; sank
into bed at last.
4
It was on the next evening that she awoke to the realization that Roddy
had not come—might not—certainly would not now. He was going away.
He, who always found self-expression, explanations, so difficult, would be
at a loss to know what to say when he too woke up. He who never made
plans would be helpless when it came to making any which should include
her too in the future. Last night he had been dumb, he had sighed and
sighed, whispered inarticulately: he would find it hard to be the first to
break silence, to endeavour to re-establish the balance of real life between
them. She would write him a letter, tell him all; yes, she would tell him all.
Her love for him need no longer be like a half-shameful secret. If she posted
a letter to-night, he would get it to-morrow morning, just before he left.
She wrote:
Roddy, this is to say good-bye once more and to send you all my love till
we meet again. I do love you, indeed, in every sort of way, and to any
degree you can possibly imagine; and beyond that more, more, more,
unimaginably. The more my love for you annihilates me, the more it
becomes a sense of inexhaustible power.
Do you love me, Roddy? Tell me again that you do; and don’t think me
importunate.
I am so wrapped round and rich in my thoughts of you that at the
moment I feel I can endure your absence. I almost welcome it because it
will give me time to sit alone, and begin to realise my happiness. So that
when you come back—Oh, Roddy, come back soon!
I have loved you ever since I first saw you when we were little, I
suppose,—only you, always you. I’m not likely ever to stop loving you.
Thank God I can tell you so at last. Will you go on loving me? Am I to go
on loving you? Oh, but you won’t say no, after last night. If you don’t want
to be tied quite yet, I shall understand. I can wait years quite happily, if you
love me. Roddy, I am yours. Last night I gave you what has always
belonged to you. But I can’t think about last night yet. It is too close and
tremendous and shattering. I gasp and nearly faint when I try to recall it. I
dissolve.
When I came back to my room in the dawn I stared and stared at my face
in the glass, wondering how it was I could recognize it. How is it I look the
same, and move, eat, speak, much as usual?
Ought I to have been more coy, more reluctant last night? Would it have
been more fitting—would you have respected me more? Was I too bold?
Oh, this is foolishness: I had no will but yours. But because I love you so
much I am a little fearful. So write to me quickly and tell me what to think,
feel, do. I shall dream till then.
There is so much more to tell you, and yet it is all the same really. My
darling, I love you!
Judy.
She posted it. Next morning she hurriedly dressed and ran downstairs in
the sudden expectation of finding a letter from him; but there was none.
Now he would have got hers.... Now he would have read it.... Now he
would be walking to the station....
She heard the train steam out; and doubt and sorrow came like a cloud
upon her; but only for a little while.
In the cool of the evening she wandered down to the river and sat beside
it dreaming. She dreamt happily of Jennifer. She would be able to love
Jennifer peacefully now, think of her without that ache, see her again,
perhaps, with all the old restlessness assuaged. Jennifer’s letter would
surely come soon now....
If Roddy were to ask her to come away with him at once, for ever, she
would take just the copper bowl from her table and spring to him, and leave
all the rest of the past without a pang.
Perhaps Roddy had written her a letter just before he had gone away; and
if so it might have come by the evening post. She left the river and went to
seek it.
Who could it be coming towards her down the little pathway which led
from the station to the bottom of the garden and then on to the blue gate in
the wall of the garden next door? She stood still under the overhanging
lilacs and may-trees, her heart pounding, her limbs melting. It was Roddy,
in a white shirt and white flannels,—coming from the station. He caught
sight of her, seemed to hesitate, came on till he was close to her; and she
had the strangest feeling that he intended to pass right by her as if he did not
see her.... What was the word for his face? Smooth: yes, smooth as a stone.
She had never before noticed what a smooth face he had; but she could not
see him clearly because of the beating of her pulses.
‘Roddy!’
He lifted his eyebrows.
‘Oh, hullo, Judith.’
‘I thought you’d gone away.’
‘I’m going to-morrow. A girl I know rang up this morning to suggest
coming down for the day, so I waited. I’ve just seen her off.’
A girl he knew.... Roddy had always had this curious facility in the
dealing of verbal wounds.
‘I see.... How nice.’
A face smooth and cold as a stone. Not the faintest expression in it. Had
he bidden the girl he knew good-bye with a face like this? No, it had
certainly been twinkling and teasing then.
‘Well, I must get on.’ He looked up the path as if meditating immediate
escape; then said, without looking at her, and in a frozen voice: ‘I got a
letter from you this morning.’
‘Oh, you did get it?’
There could never have been a more foolish-sounding bleat. In the
ensuing silence she added feebly: ‘Shall you—answer it—some time?’
‘I thought the best thing I could do was to leave it unanswered.’
‘Oh....’
Because of course it had been so improper, so altogether monstrous to
write like that....
‘Well,’ she said. ‘I thought.... I’m sorry.’
She ought to apologise to him, because he had meant to go away without
saying anything, and she had come on him unawares and spoilt his escape.
‘I was very much surprised at the way you wrote,’ he said.
‘How do you mean, surprised, Roddy?’ she said timidly.
She had known all along in the deepest layer of her consciousness that
something like this would happen. Permanent happiness had never been for
her.
It was not much of a shock. In a moment that night was a far, unreal
memory.
‘Well’—he hesitated. ‘If a man wants to ask a girl to—marry him he
generally asks her himself—do you see?’
‘You mean—it was outrageous of me not to wait—to write like that?’
‘I thought it a little odd.’
‘Oh, but Roddy, surely—surely that’s one of those worn-out
conventions.... Surely a woman has a perfect right to say she—loves a man
—if she wants to—it’s simply a question of having the courage.... I can’t
see why not.... I’ve always believed one should....’
It was no good trying to expostulate, to bluff like that, with his dead face
confronting her. He would not be taken in by any such lying gallantries.
How did one combat people whose features never gave way by so much as
a quiver? She leaned against the wooden fence and tried to fix her eyes
upon the may-tree opposite. Very far, but clear, she heard her mother at the
other end of the garden, calling her name: but that was another Judith.
‘I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood me,’ he said.
‘Yes. I’ve misunderstood you. You see—this sort of thing has never
happened to me before and I thought ... when a person said.... Why did you
say.... I didn’t know people said that without meaning it.... I suppose we
must mean different things by it. That’s what it is. Well....’ Her voice was
terrible: a little panting whine.
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
Probably that was true: he had forgotten he had ever said: ‘I love you.’
She could not remind him; for in any case he would not be affected. What
were three little words?... And after all, she had probably more or less
forced him to say them: she had wanted to hear them so much, she had
driven him to say them. Yes, he had groaned, and quickly repeated them to
keep her quiet, stop her mouth so that he could go on kissing her. She said:
‘But why, Roddy, why did you take me out ... behave as you did ... kiss
me so—so.... I don’t understand why you bothered ... why you seemed....’
He was silent. O God! If only he would wound and wound with clean
thrusts of truth, instead of standing there mute, deaf.
‘Roddy, after all these years, these years we’ve known each other, can’t
you tell me the truth? We were good friends once, weren’t we?’
‘Yes, I think so.’
‘Oh, I see! I see! And you could never feel like being—more than that.’
He shook his head.
‘I see, Roddy.’ The pain was sharp now, hard to fight down. ‘I see. And
you thought there had better be an end ... because you were never going to
love me: and I obviously—was it obviously?—was becoming more and
more—foolish—and tiresome. So you thought—you’d say good-bye—like
that—and then go away for good. Was that it!’
He passed a hand across his forehead: his first gesture. Then he too was
feeling, however slightly.
‘I thought that was what you wanted: what you were asking for,’ he said.
‘Oh, so you thought you’d oblige——’ No, no, not sarcasm. She waited
a moment and added: ‘I see. You misunderstood me. I daresay it was quite
natural. You thought I wanted what you wanted—just a little—a little
passion—to round off a flirtation—and be done with it. Well....’
The lane was so still that she could hear the dull beat of oars in passing
boats on the other side of the fence. The evening had become very cold.
She gave a little laugh and said:
‘I really am very sorry to make this fuss. It’s too laughable that I should
—I! ... I suppose you never dreamed I—wasn’t used to this sort of thing—
from men?’
‘I thought you knew pretty well what you were about.’
‘And I didn’t! I didn’t! I was being deceived—like any.... Oh, it’s so
vulgar!’ She shut her eyes, laughing weakly. ‘That’s why you didn’t make
your meaning plainer, I suppose. You thought I was quite used to—that sort
of thing—kissing—just for a lark. Just for a lark, Roddy—that was it,
wasn’t it? And I got serious, and tried to—to let you in for more.... I tried to
catch you. Poor Roddy! But you’d never get let in, would you? You know
your own mind. You’re cautious. You’ll see—,’ she waved her hand
slightly, ‘I’m not dangerous. I’ll never bother you any more. And I’m very
very sorry.’ She broke down with a gasp, but did not weep.
‘I’m sorry, Judith. I apologise. I——’ His voice had now the faintest
trace of emotion.
‘Oh!’ She controlled herself. ‘Apologise! Have I accused you? This is
just another damned muddle. I’m only trying to understand it.’
‘I really think I had better go,’ he said.
‘No!’ She put out a hand and clutched his arm in desperate protest. ‘Not
yet, Roddy. Not for a moment. Can’t we—O God! I wish I’d never written
that letter. Then there’d have been no need for all this.... You’d have gone
away and said nothing—and gradually I’d have understood. I should have
seen it all in its proper light. Things would have somehow come right again,
perhaps. And now I suppose they never can.... Can they, Roddy, can they?
Oh, if they could!’
How he was hating this scene! It was a shame to prolong it. He
swallowed hard and said, rather nervously:
‘Do you suppose you really meant—all you said in your letter?’
It was her chance. She must say it was all nonsense, that letter, that it
was written in a moment of madness; that she did not mean it now. Then
they might somehow manage to laugh together and part friends. He was
such a good laugher! She could go away and bury her disappointment; and
next time they met, be to him what he wanted: a light flame of passion,
blown out, relit again. He had given her the taste for his kisses. She would
miss them, and desire them painfully. If she could act her part skilfully now,
she need not be for ever without them.
But it was no good: the thing would not be lied about.
She nodded, gazing at him in utter despair. She went on nodding and
nodding, asserting the truth in silence and with all her force, compelling
him to believe it. She saw him flush faintly beneath his sallow skin.
‘I’m very sorry then,’ he said, in his frozen voice.
She cried out:
‘Oh, Roddy! Did you never like me? Didn’t you even like me? All these
years! It seemed as if you did.... I couldn’t have grown to—like you so
much if you hadn’t given me a little—a little return....’
‘Of course I liked you very much,’ he said. ‘I always thought you were
extremely attractive.’
‘Attractive!’ She bowed her face in her hands. ‘Yes. I was attractive to
you. And so.... That you should have treated me so lightly, Roddy! Oh, did I
really, really deserve that?’
He was silent.
‘If you’d warned me, Roddy ... given me some hint. I was so romantic
and idealistic about you—you’ve no idea.... I thought you must think of me
in the same sort of way I thought about you.... Couldn’t you have warned
me?’
He said in a voice choked with exasperation:
‘I did try to shew you, I tell you. I should have thought I’d shewn you
often enough. Didn’t I say I was never to be taken seriously?’
She sighed and nodded her head drearily. She was beaten.
‘Yes. Yes, you did. I wouldn’t be warned, I was such a fool. Oh, it’s all
my fault. A good sell for me.’
‘Well, I’d better go now,’ he said after a pause.
He took a step or two and then turned back. She still leaned against the
wall, and something in her attitude or expression seemed suddenly to move
him. He lingered, hesitated. His face shewed a little trouble and confusion.
‘I suppose you’re all right?’ he said.
‘Oh, I shall be quite all right.’
‘Please forget all about me.’
‘I shan’t forget about you. But I shall forget all this—if you will do the
same. We will meet in the future, Roddy, won’t we?—just as usual,—with
all the others?’
‘I think it would be better not to. I think we’d better not write to each
other or ever meet again.’
‘Not ever meet again, Roddy?’ How did he come to be master of such
cold decisions? She felt like a child in futile conflict with the fixed and
unalterable will of a grown-up person. ‘Why? Why? Why? Please do let
me. Please do. I won’t ever be a nuisance again, I promise. You’ve said you
liked me. Oh, I must see you! If I can’t see you, I can’t ever see any of them
again. Don’t you see? And then I’d have nothing.... You wouldn’t tell them,
would you, Roddy? Please let me see you again.’
It had lasted too long. In another moment she would be on her knees to
him, hysterical, loathsome.
A nervous quiver of his lips checked her suddenly and made her quiet. In
some obscure way he was suffering too. He looked like the little boy whose
face had implored her not to cry that time of the rabbit’s death. Yes, the
spectacle of other people’s pain had always affected him unpleasantly.
‘It’s all right, Roddy,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry about me. I’ll get on
without you.’
‘I’m not worth wasting one moment’s regret on,’ he said, almost
earnestly. ‘Believe me, Judith. It’s true.’ He looked at her for the last time.
‘I can only say again I’m very sorry and ask you to forget all about it.’
She took a deep breath.
‘One thing more,’ she said. ‘I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done.
There’s nothing to be ashamed of in loving a person and saying so.’
It was not true. The shame of her surrender, her letter, her unrequited
love would go on gnawing, burning, till the end of her life.
He left her, walking away from her with a graceful and noiseless tread.
After all, it did not seem to hurt much: certainly not more than could be
borne in secret, without a sign.
It had all been experience, and that was a salutary thing.
You might write a book now, and make him one of the characters; or
take up music seriously; or kill yourself.
It was all so extraordinary.... That night had seemed to Roddy so
insignificant that instead of hurrying away quickly when he got that letter,
he had had a girl he knew down for the day: and that was how he had spoilt
his own escape.
Shut the door on Roddy and turn the key and never open that room
again. Surely it would be quite easy. She saw herself as a tiny person
walking firmly away and not once looking back. There were plenty of other
things to think about.... What was there, safe and simple, to think about?
Strawberries and cream for supper. Good. Two new frocks: but he was to
have admired her in them.... A visit to London next week, and a play.
She noticed suddenly that her hands were bleeding from slight abrasions.
How had that happened? Best to go in now and arrange her face a little.
This shivering had been going on for a long time.
5
Three weeks later she stepped out of the train at a little country station in
Hampshire; and was there met by a beaming Martin, and conveyed swiftly
in his car to his home.
The long drive wound through shrubbery and great beech trees, and
opened in a wide sweep before the long low many-windowed house-front.
It was an old manor, built of exquisitely time-tempered brick. The great
porch was covered with clematis and jasmine; and here and there climbing
bushes of yellow or white roses wove their way up the walls and coiled
around the window-frames. Beyond it and on each side of it she caught or
imagined glimpses of a rich old garden, lawns and a herbaceous border,
cedar trees, yew hedges, and an espalier of peach-trees along a high wall.
A butler appeared, took her suitcase and slid away again.
Martin led the way through the oak-panelled hall into a large bright
flowery chintz drawing-room. All the colours were blue and pink and
white; and there were photographs everywhere, and vases full of
delphiniums, roses and lilies. The French windows opened on to the sunny
lawn, and, set in front of them, the tea-table shone with blue and white
china, and silver, and glass jars of honey and jam. Behind the tea-table sat
Martin’s mother, smiling.
She was as clean and fresh, as white and pink and blue as her drawing-
room. Her erect and trim little figure was crowned with white hair; her blue
rather prominent eyes held the wistful appeal of the short-sighted as she
looked into Judith’s face to greet her. Her thin mouth smiled and went on
smiling, happily, vaguely, with a kind of sweet and weak persistence. All
the lines in her face ran upwards as if she had spent her life smiling. She
had a white skin with a clear rose flush over each cheekbone. She was
really very pretty in her white lace dress and fleecy pale blue wrap: a
mother to take out to dine in her best black frock and all her diamonds and
feel proud of.
‘So this is Judith that I’ve heard so much about,’ she said charmingly;
and put a hand on her arm to lead her to the tea-table.
Three black spaniels begged and adored at her feet; or rolled over,
waving limp self-conscious devotional paws.
Over the mantelpiece hung the portrait of Martin’s dead father. He had
been Governor of somewhere: an important man. He looked reliable and
kindly, with Martin’s brown eyes and untidy features.
On the opposite wall hung a sentimental pastel portrait, life-size, of
Martin at the age of three: golden-brown curls, pink cheeks, a white silk
blouse with a frilly collar. There were some books in glass-fronted book-
cases, some goodish furniture and china; one or two good water-colours and
some indifferent ones; abundant plump cushions in broad soft chairs and
couches. It was a house that shewed in every detail the honourable,
conventional, deeply-rooted English traditions of Martin’s people.
And yet not they, with their sober steadfastness, but that wild sister, the
disgrace, Mariella’s mother, had prepared, it seemed, the strange mould for
the next generations: for all, that is, save Martin himself.
He was in high spirits. He smiled with all his white teeth, and threw
sandwiches to the dogs, and teased his mother, and stared in a sort of
delighted astonishment to see her actually sitting at tea with him in his
home. He looked almost handsome in his bright blue shirt, open to shew a
white strong well-modeled throat rising cleanly from the broad shoulders.
He did not know that Judith was dead: that a dummy was sitting beside
him. He had declared several times how well she was looking.
He said suddenly:
‘Heard from Roddy, Judith?’
She was not prepared for that name; and she felt a faintness sweep over
her.
‘No, Martin, I haven’t.’
‘I had a letter from him this morning. It’s pure agony for Roddy to
answer an invitation, even, so I was flattered. He and I and one or two other
chaps are going to do some sailing next month, off the Isle of Wight, and he
actually wrote to make arrangements.’
‘What fun that will be, Martin.’
She bowed her head over the plate in her lap, crumbling a scone to
fragments.
‘Why don’t you come too, Judith? Do! It’d be perfectly proper wouldn’t
it, Mummie? We’re her bachelor uncles.’
It was precisely at those words, at the unexpected recalling of all that
light-heartedness, that happiest day of all, that the thing leapt to life within
her, and fiercely, horribly pressed towards birth. Oh, now there was no
hope. Roddy had arisen all in a moment from his false burial.
With a vast effort she prevented her eyes from closing quite; but to speak
was impossible.
‘Roddy says——’ began Martin, glanced across at her, and stopped
uncertainly, startled. He was silent, and then said:
‘Tired, Judith?’
‘A bit—after my journey—it’s so hot to travel. Isn’t it?’ She turned to
his mother.
‘Yes, my dear, it is,’ she said cooingly. ‘Come, I’ll take you to your room
and you shall rest till dinner.’
Martin had got up and was hovering over her, anxious and despondent.
But she could smile at him now, and she said:
‘I’d rather go out if I may, and get cool. The garden looks so lovely.’
‘That’s right then,’ said Martin’s mother encouragingly. ‘Take her out,
Martin darling, and shew her the rock-garden. Martin and I have been
making a rock-garden, Judith—I may call you Judith, mayn’t I?’ She laid a
hand again on Judith’s arm. ‘It’s such fun. Martin and I are both ridiculous
potterers and experimenters. Are you like that?’
‘Not practically, I’m afraid.’
‘Ah, well, it’s a delightful hobby. It keeps me busy and healthy, doesn’t
it, Martin?’ She looked up into his face, and he put a large hand upon her
little shoulder. ‘There,’ she added, ‘Run along now. Don’t let Martin take
you in the fields or up to his precious farm: you’ll spoil your pretty shoes.
Aren’t they darling shoes, Martin? And such a pretty frock.’
With little pats and handwavings and vague benevolence she saw them
out of the French windows down the steps into the garden.
Martin said:
‘Wait. I’ll take a gun. We’re simply tripping over rabbits this year. It’s
awful.’
She did not hear properly; nor, when Martin came back to her, did she
grasp the significance of the gun over his shoulder.
He led her out of the garden by a wooden bridge over a stream half-
hidden in forget-me-nots, kingcups and iris plants; through the meadow
where grazed the pedigree cows which, so he said, were his mother’s pride;
over a stile and up on to the chalky rabbit-pitted hillside.
She was standing among the willow trees, and out of the moonlight a
voice was saying in a low hurry: ‘I love you’—and saying another thing
damnably characteristic: ‘Lovely Judy! Lovely dark eyes!’ His teeth
gleamed as he smiled in the moonlight.... He closed his eyes.... It was all in
such bad taste, in such bad taste....
Martin was pointing out the marches of the estate. There were beech
copses and farms and two gentle folds of sun-drenched sheep-strewn hill
between them and its final hedgerows.
‘You know I do love it,’ said Martin shyly. ‘I worship the soil.’ He
hesitated and then said with a laugh: ‘Funny: Sometimes I absolutely wish I
were dead so that I could be buried in it and have it all over me and inside
me for ever and ever.... Look at the way those slopes overlap....’ His eyes
fastened on them, with a hungry expression.
Then this was Martin’s secret bread. It was his land that nourished him at
the source, and made of him this man with an individual dignity and
simplicity at the core of his ordinariness. She made an effort to come nearer
to him in mind.
‘Yes ... I know Martin.’
He turned joyfully.
‘I always tell you everything, Judith. I suppose it’s because I know
you’ll understand.’
‘Which bit do you want to be buried in, Martin?’
‘I don’t care—as long as I’m well inside it.’
‘Would you ever commit suicide?’
‘Would I what?’
‘Commit suicide. To—to get there quicker.’
He laughed and said comfortably:
‘Well, I’ve never been tempted to so far....’
‘It’s an old family place is it, Martin?’
‘Oh, yes. My father was born here, and all the others. Roddy’s father and
Julian’s, and the only sister—Mariella’s mother. She was very beautiful you
know—and absolutely wild—almost mad I should think. She ran away
from her husband and goodness knows what sort of life she led. I believe it
simply broke my grandfather’s heart. He died, and then Grannie—you
remember Grannie?—couldn’t bear to go on living here alone. All the
children were scattered or married or dead. So she moved to the little place
on the river—next door to you.... Poor old lady, she didn’t have much of a
time. She outlived all her children except Roddy’s father: and he was never
much use to her. He quarrelled with his father when he was quite a boy and
left home. I don’t know what about. Grandpapa was a terrible martinet....
Yes, they were an unlucky family.’
‘And they all died young, Martin?’
‘More or less. But we none of us ever live to be old,’ he said cheerfully.
They had reached the top of the hill; and, suddenly, up went Martin’s
gun. Then, with an exclamation of disgust, he lowered it again.
‘Wasn’t ready for him. Once they get into that bracken——’
‘What’s that, Martin?’
‘Rabbit. Didn’t you see? Beastly vermin.... Never saw anything like
them. Much as we can do to keep pace with them.’
He was muttering to himself in an annoyed way.
‘But, Martin—do you mean to shoot them?’
‘Shoot them? I should say I do, if I get the chance.’
‘I never have been able to understand how people can bear to shoot
rabbits.’
‘Hum,’ said Martin, grim and indifferent. ‘You mustn’t expect me to be
sentimental about ’em.’
His eyes roved round alertly; his gun was ready to go up in a trice. He
was not giving a thought now to Judith walking beside him.
Just over the crest of the hill came a sudden small kicking and flurry. A
tiny pair of fur legs started away into the bracken, the white scut glancing
and bobbing. But the bracken thinned away to nothing here: the small form
was bound to emerge again in a moment.
There was a sharp crack.
‘Aha!’ said Martin; and he went forward to where something flipped in
the air and fell back again, horribly twitching in a mechanical and aimless
motion.
‘Oh! Oh! Oh!’ She stood rooted where he had left her, aghast.
He was stooping to examine it....
She knew how it was looking—laid on its flat side and shewing the
tender and vulnerable whiteness beneath its frail stiff paws. He was
stooping just as a figure had stooped above that other rabbit.... What years
ago!... Roddy’s rabbit whose death and burial had started this awful loving.
Who was it devilish enough to prepare these deliberate traps for memory,
these malicious repetitions and agonizing contrasts?
Oh, this world!... No hope, no meaning in it; nothing but perversities,
cruelties indulged in for sport, lickings of lips over helpless victims. Men
treated each other just as Martin treated small animals. The most you could
hope for was a little false security: they gave you that to sharpen their
pleasure in the blow they were preparing: even the ones that looked kind:
Martin for instance. As for Roddy—Roddy liked experimenting. He chose
girls sometimes: that was more voluptuous. She saw his face, pallid and
grinning, crowds of leering faces, all his. The hillside darkened. She sank
on her knees, shaking and perspiring.
He was striding back.
‘I buried it,’ he called. ‘It was a little smashed about the head.’
She had to lift her face towards him; but she made it blind. He came and
stood beside her—he dared to, red-handed as he was.
‘I’m afraid it wasn’t one of the cleanest shots,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I got
him at too long a range. Still,—that’s one less.... Come on.’
Her mind would frame only one sentence; and she tried over and over
again to say it.
‘I will not be a witness of your butcheries. I will not be a witness of your
butcheries.’
But he would not understand. Perhaps it did not make sense anyway.
‘Oh dear!’ She sat there, tearing up turf with shaking cold wet hands,
face averted, eyes staring, mouth open and out of shape, impossible to
control. ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!’ The repetition was a sort of whine or
mew.
‘What’s the matter?’ he said sharply. He sank down beside her, and his
astounded face came round her shoulder.
‘Oh, the poor little thing, the poor little thing!...’
‘Do you mean the rabbit?’
She nodded.
‘But, Judith—good heavens! A rabbit.... Judith. I’d never have shot it if
I’d dreamed you’d mind.’
She went on staring and pulling up the grass.
‘Oh, this world!’
‘Judith....’ He was silent, completely at a loss.
‘Still—it can’t be helped.... I suppose one gets accustomed....’
Her mind grew black again with formless and colossal conceptions of
torture, murder, lust: and Roddy’s face went on grinning among them. All
was lost, lost.
‘I’m very sorry,’ said Martin helplessly.
‘Oh, I don’t blame....’
‘It didn’t suffer you know. Did you think it had? That kicking didn’t
mean anything: it was simply reflex action.’ He thought he had found the
clue; and added cheerfully: ‘You’d do the same if I shot you dead at the
back of the head.’
‘I wish you had.’
She wept.
‘Good God! Really, Judith.... I’ve said I’m sorry. I can’t go on saying it,
can I? I didn’t know you were so—you oughtn’t to be so—easily upset.
Rabbits have to be kept down, you know. They destroy everything. Ask my
mother.’
She went on weeping; and after a little while he got up and strode a few
steps away, and stood with his back to her, shoulders hunched.
Worse and worse: he was deserting her.... She bit hard on her thumb till
the pain of it steadied her, waited and then called tremblingly:
‘Martin!’
He turned, saw her hand held out and came quickly and knelt beside her.
‘What is it, Judy, what is it?’
‘Oh, Martin! Oh, it’s nothing. Don’t ask, don’t.... Only—just—only
——’
His arms went round her and she abandoned herself against him,
pressing her head into his shoulder, groping for comfort, sobbing vast sobs,
while he knelt beside her quietly and let himself be wept on; and now and
then gave her shoulder a little pat.
After a long time she was so empty of tears that their source seemed dry
for ever. She would never in her life weep any more. In the thin crystalline
buoyancy of exhaustion she lay back on his shoulder and observed the gold
light lying tender and still in the folds of the hills; and two rabbits skipping
unperturbed not so very far away; and blue butterflies swinging on the long
grasses; and all the evening shadows slanting beautifully downwards. Peace
and comfort dropped upon her. The heavy ache for Roddy was gone. Oh,
now to make this no-pain permanent, to fix this languor and mindless calm,
to smother the voice which cried and cried: ‘I am cheap and shameful. I
have been used for sport!’ Now was the time to turn to Martin and see if he
could save her.
She sat up and dried her eyes.
‘There!’ she said. ‘I’m sorry. Thank you, Martin. You are a dear. You’ve
always been very kind to me, haven’t you?’
‘Kind to you! Oh, Judith, you know——’
‘I think you must rather like me, Martin.’
He said with a deep intake of breath:
‘Like you! You know I’ve loved you for years.’
She was silent, tasting a faint relief and satisfaction; and then said:
‘Well, what would you like me to do about it, Martin?’
She saw that his hands were trembling, and he answered shakily:
‘Do about it ... I.... What do you want to do about it?... I’ve said I——’
‘Would you like me to marry you?’ she asked softly.
‘God! If there was a chance!...’
‘Well—I might, Martin.’
She started to laugh and cry weakly at sight of the transfigured face he
turned towards her; and a voice went on protesting inside her: ‘No! No! No!
It isn’t true. I never will.’
‘Oh, I’m so tired, Martin, I’m so tired!’
‘Come home, my dear, come home.’
It was compassion and exultation and doubt and certainty, all mixed in
an inarticulate eloquence.
He lifted her and brushed her skirt.
There was nothing to do but accompany him down the hill.
He left her at her bedroom door. His mother, he said, would come and
give her aspirin and put her to bed, and see that dinner was brought up to
her. His mother was splendid about headaches. To-morrow there would be
plenty of time to talk.
He had behaved perfectly.
She fell asleep that night in her white room with its cretonne wreaths of
pink roses tied up with blue ribbon, and dreamed of Roddy. He sat on the
hill, close to where the rabbit had been shot, and conversed in friendly
fashion. He had come back from abroad, from some remote island. He took
a puff at his pipe and said with apparent irrelevance: ‘Not wives, my dear
girl—mistresses. It’s more convenient. When I return I intend to take
Martin as my partner.’
‘Martin wouldn’t come. Not if it’s mistresses....’