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Question $1$

$(10$ marks$)$

Palp $($Pty$)$ Ltd $($Palp$)$ is considering two new machines that should produce considerable cost savings in its assembly operations. The cost of each machine is R$14,000$ and neither is expected to have a salvage value at the end of a $4-$year useful life. Palp's required rate of return is $12\%$ and the company prefers that a project return its initial outlay within the first half of the project's life. The annual after$-$tax cash savings for each machine are provided in the following table:

$\backslash$table$[[$Year$,$Machine A$,$Machine B$],[,1,5,000\mathrm{.}00$