Module Assessment / Individual Coursework

Module Title:                                       International Investments

Module Code:                                      6FNCE009W

Module Status:                                    Core, BA Finance and Business Management

Assessment Weighting:                      25%

In Module Assessment:                       Individual coursework

Submission Date:                               

Where to Access the Feedback:         Module Blackboard

Wordcount: 1,000 words

Feedback Method: Mixture of Formative and Summative Assessment Feedback. Students receive comments on their ability to link theory and practice in terms of applying portfolio management techniques and interpreting financial information.

Assignment Outline:

The assignment is an individual report on investment strategy for an ethical fund.

You are the portfolio manager of a UK-based fund and need build a portfolio of ethical assets (investments in the following industries are not allowed: Tobacco, Defence and Gambling).

The fund should be a balanced portfolio of equities and bonds which must include:

equities from 4 companies

and 3 corporate bonds

All assets must be from ethical companies (see above).

You are borrowing £10,000,000 for three weeks at a rate of 3.5% (annualised quote).

Your objective as portfolio manager is to produce a fund that delivers a return of 9% (annualised and net of borrowing costs).

The holding period is 3 weeks (beginning and end of investment to be decided by you, the fund manager).

Trading is allowed during the investment period (transaction costs are assumed to be zero).

Equities and bonds can be traded in the UK or any other foreign market of your choice

No short-selling, nor use of other funds or derivative contracts allowed.

Additional information:

Please note that at the end of your investment you will have to pay back the £10ml plus interest calculated for three weeks

Required:

Part 1

A)    By undertaking fundamental analysis of company shares select the country where you want to invest (preferably the UK) and two equity sectors that you expect to perform well in the coming 3 weeks. On the basis of your analysis (qualitative as well as quantitative such as company news, current and expected P/E ratios, EPS, Dividends, return and sales forecasts, etc.) select 4 companies that you expect to outperform the market index / benchmark (in the UK that could be FTSE100). By undertaking fundamental analysis on corporate bonds (expectations on credit rating, changes in yield, duration, convexity) select 3 debt securities (bonds) that you expect to perform well in the coming weeks.

Hint: You can start by following the top-down approach, with a broad analysis of some of the major economies in terms of their macro-economic variables (GDP, Inflation, Unemployment rates) and the performance of their financial market indexes

Once you have selected the country, examine the major sectors, i.e. pharmaceutical, IT, retail, transport, etc to evaluate how well they will performed, then select the individual assets using financial analysis(Marks allocated: 40%

B)    By using your own judgement and appropriate financial concepts determine the best asset allocation (% of capital allocated to each asset within the portfolio)(Marks allocated: 10%)

C)    Compare your results at the end of the investment period with a market index to be used as your benchmark (this must be representative of your investment and only related to Equity).

(Marks allocated: 10%)

Part 2

Monitor the performance of the portfolio on a weekly basis (each asset price needs to be monitored at least once a week and you will need to explain any daily change in price > 5%). In terms of fundamental factors explain reasons for the changes you are observing. Critically evaluate the performance of your portfolios against the performance of the selected benchmark by using the Treynor ratio.

(Marks allocated: 20%)

Part 3

Conclude and explain the differences you observe between your portfolio and the benchmark in terms of passive or active management theories and concepts.

(Marks allocated: 20%, no more than 200 words)

Format of Coursework:

1. An electronic copy of your assignment report should be submitted via the module blackboard site, please do not include your student number nor your name as anonymousmarking will be carried out.
   1. Copy or screenshots of an Excel spreadsheet, containing performance data used for all calculations where necessary should be submitted as part of the main Word file.
   2. Answer all questions in this coursework and present your investment plan and findings in a professionally formatted report.
      1. You must include the module title on the first page (Cover Page) of your report. The wordcount for the report is 1000 words (±10%), with size 12 font and 1.5 line spacing for the main text.
      2. List of References should be included if any materials were cited in the report, following the Harvard Referencing Style. Appendixes may be used where necessary.