Nova Chemical Corporation

This research covers a case financial analysis of the Nova Chemical Corporation. The company is an important participant in the diversified segment of the chemical industry.

The time period of this case is the late-1980s. At that time, Nova was a somewhat distant fourth within the context of market share among diversified chemical companies, with sales levels in 1989 of less than one-tenth of those of the segment leader, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company, and with annual sales less than one-half of those of the third place participant in the segment, Ethyl Corporation. This segment position placed pressures on Nova to continually strive to improve operating efficiency and provide expansion of production capacities to be in a position to exploit opportunities developing in the market.

At the time of this case (late-1989), Nova management was confronting two major issues involving finance. The first issue was the selection of a financial strategy to provide the funding for a major expansion of production facilities for the company's Environmental Products Division. This expansion was expected to require the expenditure of US$250 million over a two-year period (1990-1991). Nova's decision choice with respect to funding the expansion would be made from among three external financing alternatives and a fourth alternative that would rely partly on internal financing coupled with on

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_________________________________________________ Table 8 Working Capital Turn 1987-1989 (Nova and Industry Norm) ________________________________________________________________ Year Nova Industry________ 1987 3.55X 4.30X 1988 4.21X 4.19X 1989 5.27X 4.54X X = times [Sales:Current Assets - Current Liabilities] ________________________________________________________________ The data presented in Table 8 (which may be found on the preceding page) indicates that Nova's working capital turn was improving during the period of analysis. As was true with respect to the analysis of the company's cash turn, this finding indicates that the company's working capital level was too small in comparison with industry norms. Table 9 Fixed Asset Turn 1987-1989 (Nova and Industry Norm) ________________________________________________________________ Year Nova Industry________ 1987 2.41X 1.95X 1988 2.38X 2.19X 1989 2.09X 1.87X
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Approximate Word count = 4412
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)