Six months have passed since you briefed William Seaton, Director of Finance on the relationship between Slide and Fouce Oil.
You have been called into William Seaton's office:
''We had a visit from the Chief Executive Officer of Fouce Oil yesterday. We had not received any prior notice of the purpose of the visit and assumed that he simply wished to make a courtesy call while he was visiting Fouce Oil's subsidiary in this country. Instead, he came to initiate discussions over a strategy of collaboration on oil exploration.
Rather than explain things myself, please read the memorandum of understanding that he has asked us to sign. It is self-explanatory.
Once you have read the memorandum, I would like you to email me your thoughts on the following:
The suitability of this proposal for Slide.
The likelihood that Fouce Oil's strategic interests will clash with our own.
The strategic risks that are likely to arise because of this arrangement.
The manner in which this strategic relationship should be communicated to the stock market.
I realise that this is a challenging request, but I need your response quickly because we need to respond to Fouce Oil.''
The Memorandum of Understanding can be found by clicking on the Reference Materials button.
A month has passed since you submitted the report requested by William Seaton, Director of Finance on the Board's proposals.
You have received the following email:
From: William Seaton, Director of Finance
To: Finance Manager
Subject: Shale oil
Hi,
One of the geologists made a presentation to the Board, proposing that we investigate the extraction of shale oil deposits. I have attached the slides that were used as the basis for this presentation.
I need you to work on a response to this document:
Firstly, what risks do you envisage in our entry to the shale oil business?
Secondly, what do you regard as the key factors that we should consider when deciding on proceeding with this
proposal? Please justify your selection.
Thirdly, what factors should we take into account when deciding on which country or countries to commence this
side of the business?
Finally, what are the challenges in creating a team of technical staff to lead our efforts in this area?
William
The presentation slides can be found by clicking on the Reference Materials button.
Reference Material:
You have received the following email from Marcus Svenson, Finance Director:
From: Marcus Svenson, Finance Director
To: Senior Finance Manager
FW: Pricing
Hi,
I am forwarding an email from Sarah Johns.
Sarah has not been with us for very long and this is her first experience of dealing with a currency price movement.
I am really busy, so I need you to respond to her requests. Please email her as soon as possible.
Marcus
From: Sarah Johns, Marketing Director
To: Marcus Svenson, Finance Director
Subject: USD movement
Hi Marcus,
A lot of our biggest customers are threatening to cancel orders unless we reduce our selling prices. Timber and associated products are commodity items that are priced in USD, so I thought that our prices would automatically remain competitive regardless of what happened to the USD. I am particularly confused over domestic sales, because many of the customers who have threatened to cancel are based in this country and we invoice them in M$.
Please help me to understand why the M$/USD exchange rate can affect our competitive position in this way.
I also wish to know why you have chosen to do nothing to hedge against this risk. If you look at the attached article you will see that the USD is an issue in the business news.
Sarah
Twelve hours have passed since you received the telephone call concerning the oil spillage.
You receive the following telephone call from William Seaton, Director of Finance:
''The press has got a hold of the story about the oil leak. Our share price has taken a major hit. Indeed, Slide's market capitalisation has fallen by a third since the stock exchange opened for business. There is a lot of loose talk in the press about the knock-on effect of this crisis for Slide. It has not escaped anybody's notice that there are news teams showing injured wildlife. There is also a great deal of footage being broadcast on the other sites around the world where we are revitalising oil wells using the same technology that was in use at AZ40.
Our experts have only just arrived at the spillage site. While they were on the corporate jet they emailed their initial thoughts, based on their understanding of what went wrong. Our engineers anticipate a major operation to block the leak by pumping cement into the bore hole at a low pressure. This will be expensive, but the cost will be less than one tenth of the reduction in our market capitalisation.
I need an email from you:
Firstly, I need a clear explanation of the key risks that Slide now faces because of this crisis. I am only interested in those with a high risk and high consequence and I need you to justify those classifications because the Board will need to prioritise its responses.
Secondly, two related issues: I need you to explain why Slide's share price has fallen to such an extent AND to recommend, with reasons, whether we should release our costings of the repair scheme at this time.
It goes without saying that I need this urgently.''
Memorandum of Understanding between Fouce Oil and Slide
It is proposed that Fouce Oil and Slide will temporarily combine their exploration activities, with Slide taking overall control in recognition of the greater expertise of its professional exploration staff.
This collaboration will work as follows:
1. Slide will take responsibility for the management and operation of all future exploration activities for the two companies, with effect from 1 October 2015.
2. Fouce Oil will second all of its professional oil exploration staff to Slide. Fouce will continue to employ these staff and will pay their salaries.
3. Slide will brief Fouce Oil's professional oil exploration staff on all operational matters relating to exploration activities for the duration of this arrangement.
4. The provisions of paragraph 3 will apply to any projects in which Slide participates with third parties on a farm-in or other joint venture basis.
5. In recognition of Slide's greater expertise, Fouce Oil will offer its entire portfolio of existing exploration rights to this venture, without any charge to Slide. Fouce Oil will also pay for 55% of any and all exploration costs, leaving Slide responsible for the remaining 45%.
6. The revenues from all successful discoveries will be shared equally by Slide and Fouce Oil. In the event that either party wishes to sell an oil well, the other will have the option of purchasing the other's rights for 50% of the well's agreed valuation.
7. This arrangement will be subject to review at the end of five years and annually thereafter. In the event that either party wishes to discontinue the arrangement, all ongoing exploration projects will be drawn to an orderly conclusion.
Signed
Thomas Yip, Chief Executive Officer, Fouce Oil
Andrew Jones, Chief Executive Officer, Slide
14 May 2015
