CIMA F3 Exam With Confidence Using Practice Dumps

Current PBIT = $25m

Existing debt = $60m at 5% → interest = 0.05 × 60 = $3m

Current interest cover = 25 / 3 = 8.3 times (as stated).

New borrowing: $20m at 10% → extra interest = 0.10 × 20 = $2m

Total interest after borrowing = 3 + 2 = $5m

PBIT in first year is unchanged at $25m, so:

New interest cover=255=5 times\text{New interest cover} = \frac{25}{5} = 5 \text{ times}New interest cover=525​=5 times

Loan covenant requires minimum cover of 4 times. New cover (5x) is above this, so covenant is not breached.

Correct answer: D – Interest cover would reduce to 5 times and the covenant would NOT be breached.

A P/E valuation should use forecast sustainable earnings, not just the last year’s profit. ✅ (C)

The “E” in P/E is earnings after interest and tax, not profit before interest and tax. ✅ (D)

The P/E multiple should be based on comparable companies in the same sector, not the whole market. ✅ (E)

Statement A is wrong (unlisted companies usually get a discount, not an uplift).

Statement B is wrong (P/E gives an equity value, not whole entity value).

Answer Q34: C, D, E

A. True – holding more securities across different industries reduces unsystematic risk.

B. False – systematic risk (market risk) cannot be diversified away.

C. True – beta measures an investment’s systematic risk relative to the market.

D. False – beta of 1 means same risk as the market, not risk-free.

E. True – the Security Market Line (SML) plots expected return against beta (systematic risk).

So the correct three are A, C and E.