Module 1: Investment Strategy, Capital Markets and Modern Portfolio

• An introduction to financial assets and capital markets
• Review of the objectives of corporate financial decision making
• The basics of asset valuation
• PV and FV, Rates of Return, Time value of Money
• Reading financial reports (balance sheets, fund reports, etc.)
• Portfolio Elements
• The role of the advisory (asset management, institutions, fund managers, etc.)
• Risk reward
• Allocation strategies
• Sector, market and other methods of classification
• Regulations and constraints

Module 2:  Portfolio Types and Construction

Module two extends the concepts covered during the first day to look at the most widely applied techniques used in business in making financial and investment decisions.

Part 1 – Portfolio Types and influences

• Asset classes
• Geography, sector
• Macro economic factors

Part 2 – Portfolio Design, Planning and Execution

• Market planning, analysis and targeting
• Segmentation methods
• Funding methods
• Manufacturing (In-house or outsourced)
• Distribution
• Asset management

Module 3: Valuing Stocks, Bonds and Funds – Pricing The Risk/Return Relationship

Day Three examines the creation of value from the perspective both of the firm and the capital markets. Methods of pricing firm securities are illustrated along with approaches to estimating and pricing risk and the trade-off between levels of risk and return.

Part 1 – Valuation Methods

• The value of a corporation, characteristics of debt and equity
• Valuing debt, valuing equity, models of dividend growth
• Understanding and applying PE ratios

Part 2 – Risk/Return

• The nature of risk
• Measuring total risk
• More accurate pricing – variance calculations using a probability distribution of returns

Part 3 – Diversification and Optimization

• Diversification theory and the calculation of portfolio risk
• Optimization of returns within a two stock / multi-stock portfolio

Case Study – Risk/Reward: Reviewing a series of portfolios and determining recommendations to your clients

Module 4: Portfolio Practices and Asset Allocation

This module covers portfolio management and the issues related to the construction of an efficient portfolio for an individual client. It also looks at how portfolios should be funded and at the effects of different types of funding on value creation.

Part 1 – MPT (Modern Portfolio Practices)

• Market risk vs unsystematic risk
• Beta and the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
• Choosing an optimum portfolio
• Calculating the cost of equity/debt capital
• The Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)

Part 2 – Portfolio Rebalancing And Asset Mix Techniques

• Managing ongoing customer expectations
• Correlation methods and expected returns
• Strategic and tactical asset allocation
• Portfolio performance appraisal

Module 5: Capital Structure Policy and Dividend Policy

Module Five concludes the program by discussing the key policy issues that follow from an understanding of the workings of the debt and equity markets, and portfolio diversification.

• Capital structure policy
• Initial public offerings, rights issues and private placements of equity
• Commercial bills and promissory notes
• Financial, operating and leveraged leases
• Modigliani and Miller and capital structure irrelevance
• Dividend policy
• Payout and plough back ratios
• Costs of issuing equity
• Transaction costs and information asymmetry

Review and Revision

Examination

Closing