Evaluating projects with unequal lives

Your company is considering starting a new project in either Germany or Thailand—these projects are mutually exclusive, so your boss has asked you to analyze the projects and then tell her which project will create more value for the company’s stockholders.

The German project is a six-year project that is expected to produce the following cash flows:

Project:	German
Year 0:	–$650,000
Year 1:	$220,000
Year 2:	$240,000
Year 3:	$245,000
Year 4:	$270,000
Year 5:	$120,000
Year 6:	$100,000

The Thai project is only a three-year project; however, your company plans to repeat the project after three years. The Thai project is expected to produce the following cash flows:

Project:	Thai
Year 0:	–$490,000
Year 1:	$250,000
Year 2:	$265,000
Year 3:	$275,000

Because the projects have unequal lives, you have decided to use the replacement chain approach to evaluate them. You have determined that the appropriate cost of capital for both projects is 13%. Assuming that the Thai project’s cost and annual cash inflows do not change when the project is repeated in three years and that the cost of capital remains at 13%, answer the following questions:

The NPV of the German project is:

$190,262

$172,142

$181,202

$199,322

The NPV of the Thai project is:

$262,819

$219,016

$240,918

$251,868