Beet Route plc is a long-established company in the fruit-packing trade. You know that the company has many valuable assets and a lot of other businesses would be keen to buy it and exploit the land, buildings, and licences which it owns. You know that in 20X0, the existing board of directors was replaced and new directors were appointed. The new directors now own 40% of the shares between them. You have also identified that no major purchases of new machinery have been made since 20X1, and several valuable non-current assets have been sold since then. The following information is made available to you. It details the man performance ratios for this company, and the industry averages. The company draws up its accounts to 31 December each year. Performance ratio Gross profit margin 36% Return on capital employed 13% Receivables days 35 Payables days Dividend per share Price-earnings ratio 20X0 20X1 20X2 20X3 20X4 Industry Dividend cover Interest cover 26 35% 35% 35% 35% 13% 14.5% 14% 14% 38 42 46 43 44 55 19p 37 29 13.3p 14.6p 7 6.8 2.2 2 3 2.4 2 16.6p 6.6 5 1.2 30p 3.5 1.0 0.9 1.7 1.7 Average (20X4) 34% 13% 33 31 Not available Not available 2.5 2.3 Required It is 31 March 20X5. Suggest reasons for the major changes in the performance of this company since 20X0. You may consider the payables days and receivables days ratios together. What do you think the directors of this company are doing, and what may be the long-term impact of their actions? Do not exceed 1,000 words.