Calculating Free Cash Flows: The Case of Preferred Shares
February 12, 2025
The startup and entrepreneurship game has undergone a lot of changes in the recent past. Earlier, having a free cash flow was the hallmark of a successful business. All businesses including startup businesses were valued on the basis of the profitability or the free cash flow which they generate. To date, most startup valuation models […]
If you are connected to any kind of financial market or watch the financial news even for 5 minutes every day, it is likely that you have heard the word, financial derivatives many times. The media is flush with articles wherein derivatives are criticized or appreciated. Most of the times, commentators are in awe of […]
In the previous article, we have already studied what bank guarantees are and how these bank guarantees are provided by a commercial bank as a value-added service to their corporate customers. We are also aware of the various types of bank guarantees as well as their purposes. In this article, we will understand some of […]
It is often said that profit is a reward for risk bearing. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of banking industry. Banks are literally exposed to many different types of risks. A successful banker is one that can mitigate these risks and create significant returns for the shareholders on a consistent basis. Mitigation […]
What is a Currency War ? A currency war is a situation wherein devaluation of currency by one country is retaliated by a competitive devaluation from the other country. For instance if the United States were to devalue the dollar against the Pound Sterling and if the British retaliated with their own devaluation then the […]
Now, it’s time to move on to the second metric which can be used to derive the free cash flow to the firm (FCFF). This metric is the cash flow from operations. These types of questions involve a complete cash flow statement being provided as the question and expect the student to derive free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) as an output.
The conceptual understanding that we built in the previous article regarding the difference between these two closely related terms will come in handy here.
We already know that the difference between free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) and cash flow from operations arises because we consider long term investments as being the part of one whereas we do not consider for the other. Therefore, simply put, free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) can be derived from cash flow from operations in the following manner:
Free Cash Flow to the Firm (FCFF) = Cash flow from Operations – Net Investment in Long Term Assets
However, this is only an approximation. To consider this to be the accurate derivation of free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) would be an oversimplification.
There is another complication that is introduced because of the way we treat interest expense while preparing statement of cash flows.
We consider interest expense as a financing expense. That is because, the operating cash flows of the firm would remain the exact same regardless of whether we ran the business on own money or on borrowed money. Hence, we subtract them from operating cash flow and send them to financing cash flows.
Well, when calculating free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) the perspective changes. We are not concerned whether the money is spent because of regular operations or not. All we are concerned about is that it reduces the money available for the investors. Hence, we must add this interest expense back our above formula. Thus we arrive at a modified formula which is
FCFF = Cash flow from Operations – Net Investment in Long Term Assets + Interest Expense
However, adding back the entire interest expense would also be an oversimplification. Thus, we have one last adjustment to make before we can arrive at the free cash flow to the firm (FCFF) number. That adjustment pertains to tax. Since we have already deducted tax, the interest expenditure should be reduced to account for its effect. Thus the final formula is:
The above two formulas were only intermediate calculations to derive the final formula and must not be used. The third formula (highlighted with border) is the final formula which must be used to derive the free cash flow to the firm in case all the inputs are known.
Example:
Let’s understand this with the help of an example:
Cash flow from operations = $1000
Cash Outflow (New Machine) = $250
Cash Inflow (Sale of Old Machine) = $75
Interest Expense = $100
Tax Rate = 40%
Calculation #1: Net Cash Flow towards Long Term Assets = $250 - $75 = $175
Calculation #2: After Tax Interest Expense = $100*(1 – 0.40) = $60
Therefore,
Needless to say this is an over simplified version for explanation. The questions on the exam will be much more detailed and calculation intensive. However, the logic and the steps required to solve them remain the same.
Many students find it confusing that interest is the only financing expense that is added back to cash flow from operations. They wonder why other expenses like dividends and share repurchases do not affect the free cash flow to the firm.
The answer lies in the sequence in which the calculation happens. Interest expense was earlier subtracted to arrive at the net income. Hence, it needs to be added back.
Other expenses like dividends and share repurchase are not subtracted to arrive at the net income and hence no adjustments need to be made for them!
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *