Beacon Incorporated Owns a Chain of Retail Stores

question 90

Essay

Beacon Incorporated owns a chain of retail stores. During December of 2009, a customer slipped in a doorway of its Virginia store and broke his ribs. He is suing Beacon for $200,000 for negligence. Beacon's legal counsel believes that it is remote that Beacon will lose its defense of the lawsuit because the doorway recently was rebuilt with all-weather traction stripping and a sign on the door warned customers that the doorway was slippery when icy. On December 30, 2009, before considering the effects of this lawsuit, Beacon's current assets, total assets, current liabilities, and total liabilities were $420,000, $840,000, $100,000, and $300,000, respectively. After this event is properly accounted for, calculate Beacon's debt/asset ratio on December 31, 2009.

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Definitions:

Note Issuance Facility

A financial arrangement that allows a borrower to issue short-term debt securities as needed, up to a predetermined limit.

Eurobond Agreement

An international bond that is denominated in a currency not native to the country where it is issued, often used by companies and governments to raise capital.

Short-Term

Relating to a brief period of time, typically less than a year.

Covered Interest Arbitrage

A strategy where investors exploit the interest rate differential between two countries while covering exchange rate risk, aiming for guaranteed returns.