Cash & Cash Flow (OCR GCSE Business): Exam Questions

The Sea View Hotel

The Sea View Hotel is a profitable hotel located near the coast. Anika and Charlie own the hotel in a business partnership. They are now considering opening a second hotel in a town further along the coast. It would cost them £1.5 million to buy the property and £0.5 million for redecoration.

To fund the £2 million expansion, the partners are considering getting a bank loan or accepting a new partner into the business. The partnership already has one bank loan but has worked out it can afford a second loan as long as the cost of borrowing does not rise too much.

If Anika and Charlie decide to take on a new partner, they would like to ask Finley, a friend of Anika’s who has just returned to the UK from travelling around the world. Finley is currently unemployed but is a keen photographer and environmental campaigner.

Anika has forecasted the following revenues and costs for the proposed 25-room hotel:

• selling price: £100 a day per room

• fixed costs: £6300 per week

• variable costs: £40 a day per room.

Glorious Kitchens Ltd

Glorious Kitchens (GK) is a private limited company based in Brighton. The company makes and fits high-quality, luxury wooden kitchens throughout the south-east of England. Its most popular range is the Deluxe.

The average price of a Deluxe kitchen is £15 000 including fitting. GK calculates its fixed costs for the year to be £250 000 and its variable costs for the Deluxe to be £6380, which means they need to sell 29 kitchens to break even.

GK is concerned about the future economic climate and its possible impact on the company’s sales. It is predicted that there will be a fall in consumer incomes in the south-east of England until 2025. Unemployment in the south-east of England is forecast to follow the trend shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Financial data for GK at the end of 2022 is shown in Table 2.

Table 2

Quality Textiles (QT)

Quality Textiles Ltd (QT) is a medium-sized, established business that manufactures clothes from its factory in Birmingham. Its clothes are sold to retail shops around the country. A summary of its profitability is shown in Table 1.

Table 1

QT wants to expand the business by using a bank loan to buy a large van to help with deliveries. It will use average rate of return (ARR) to assess which model of van it will buy. Further information is provided in Table 2, below. The new van will mean employing a driver, in addition to the five drivers already working for the business.

Table 2

QT’s cash flow forecast suggests it may struggle to pay the monthly van loan repayment. QT’s closing bank balance for the last five months is shown in Fig. 1.

QT had problems earlier in the year. It found its way into the local newspaper as part of an investigation into ethical practices in its business activities and supply chain.

Ricardo Costumes and Props (RCP)

Alessia and Natalia own Ricardo Costumes and Props (RCP). The business operates as a partnership. RCP makes a range of costumes and props that it sells to UK and EU theatres, schools and amateur dramatics groups.

Last year, RCP’s costumes and props were used in two very successful films. RCP’s reputation grew rapidly and its revenue increased from £1 600 000 in 2019 to £2 000 000 in 2020. More financial data for RCP in 2020 is shown in Table 1, below.

Table 1

Despite being profitable, RCP’s bank overdraft is getting bigger every month. Alessia and Natalia realise that they need to carefully consider RCP’s cash flow position.

Alessia and Natalia need to update the laser cutter and 3D printer they use to make some of the props. The total cost of these machines is likely to be over £100 000. Alessia and Natalia are unsure how to finance the purchase of the new machinery. Natalia has suggested they try and sell the old machines and use the money to buy new ones. Alessia thinks it might be better to gain extra capital by finding a new partner to join the business.