COST OF CAPITAL
“Cost of Capital” is the minimum return expected by he contributors of capital. The contributors may be equity share holders, debenture holders and preference share holders who invest in equity shares, debentures and preference shares respectively of a company.
Simply the company has to earn a minimum amount (return) on the money contributed by outsiders (Investment) i.e. return of Investment (ROI) = 
The ROI is a charge on the company in real sense and so it is treated as “Cost”. It is usually represented as % on the capital contributed.
The company usually uses cost of capital as a hurdle rate (or) interest rate (or) discount rate in order to take a decision regarding investment in a project (or) Business.
There are various sources available for raising capital and these various sources have varied levels of risk and return. If there is only one source of finance then the cost of that source of finance will be the cost of capital. But the availability of finance from a single source is not unlimited (i.e. limited) and not practical too.
So, the combined cost of all the sources of finance which the company uses is the cost of capital of the company. (Don’t add up all the costs its is wrong).
The combined cost can be arrived by making weighted average of specific cost of capital. Specific cost in the sense cost of each source.
(i) Cost of debentures: The cost of debentures is denoted by Kd. Kd is usually the interest rate that the company has to pay on the capital raised in the form of debentures.
i.e. Kd = Interest rate
But the advantage of raising debentures (or) debt capital is that interest is deductible expenditure for tax purpose (Sec. 36 of Income tax Act).
What is the use of this advantage for the company while arriving at cost?
The answer to this question can be best explained with the help of an illustration. Suppose that there are two companies ‘A’ and ‘B’. Company ‘A’ is an all equity company where as company ‘B’ raises capital with a mix of debt and equity. The capital structure is as follows.
Company A Company B
Equity share capital 5,00,000 3,00,000
12% debentures --- 2,00,000
Total capital 5,00,000 5,00,000
The two companies are related to the same risk class and have the same Earnings (EBIT)
Company A Company B
EBIT 1,00,000 1,00,000
Less: Interest N.A 24,000
EBT 1,00,000 76,000
Less: Tax @ 35% 35,000 26,600
EAT 65,000 49,400
Both the companies are earning the same income, but the return to equity share holders vary.
Return on Equity (ROE) for company A is 
for company B 
The difference in return is only due to interest and its tax advantage .company B is paying return (i.e. Interest) to debenture holders as well as more return to equity holders as compared to company A.
Company A pays 65,000 to it’s contributors of capital. Company B pays (24,000 + 49,400) = 73,400 to its contributors.
Difference in return = 8,400. Thus the tax advantage is interest x tax rate = 24,000 x 35% = 8,400.
The net cost of debentures to the company will be interest (-) interest x tax rate = interest (1 – tax rate)
Usually expenses will be incurred by the company in raising capital and these expenses are termed as flotation (or) floating costs.
If there are floatation costs then cost of debt will be as follows:
Net sale proceeds = capital raised (-) Flotation costs
Debentures are redeemable at par, at premium, at discount. If they are redeemed at premium then that premium should be apportioned over the maturity period of debenture.
So, the cost of redeemable debentures is
Rv = Redeemable value; NSP = Net sale proceeds
N = Maturity period
(ii) Cost of Preference Shares: Dividend payable on preference shares is not a charge on profit and hence not deductible for tax purposes:
Kp = preference dividend
The preference dividend is inclusive of dividend distribution tax.
If there are flotation costs, then
The cost of redeemable preference shares
RV = Redeemable value of preference share
NSP = Net sale proceeds
(iii) Cost of loans:
KL = Interest (1 – Tax rate)
(iv) Cost of equity:
In the case of preference shares and debt (debentures & loan), the rate of return payable by the company is available on the face of it. But in the case of equity shares, it is not available.
Though there is no compulsion on payment of dividend (or) return to equity share holders, but if the company fails to give them return, they will shift their investment elsewhere. The return may be in the form of dividends (or) capital appreciations.
There are various methods (or) approaches available in order to arrive at cost of equity. They are as follows:
Computation of Cost of Equity (Ke) under various approaches:
Price Approach
1. Dividend price Approach
(or)
2. Earnings Price Approach
(or)
Growth Approach
1. Gordon’s Dividend Growth Approach
2. Earnings Growth Approach
D1 = Expected dividend per share i.e. D0 (1+g)
D0= Dividend paid by the company.
P0 = Market price of share
g = growth rate
Computation of growth rate
The earnings after paying dividends will be treated as Reserves and transferred to balance sheet which will be used as capital to generate earnings. So, growth rate is the rate of return on retained earnings.
g = Retention ratio x Return on Investment (ROI)
Dividend payout ratio means so much of the earnings paid as dividend and the balance of earnings is treated as retained earnings. So,
Retention Ratio = 1 – Dividend payout ratio
= 1 – 
= 
Realized yield approach
D = Dividend
PE = Price at end
PB = Price at beginning
PE – PB = Capital appreciation.
Capital assets Pricing model (CAPM)
Ke = Rf + b (RM – RF)
RF = Risk free rate
b = Beta
RM = Market return
(RM – RF) = risk premium
Beta
Beta is the measure of risk. When an investor invests in a company he will expect a minimum return i.e., the return paid by a bank where he takes no risk i.e., risk free rate (Rf) plus premium for taking risk.
The premium is ‘b’ times the market return more than Risk free rate of return
= Rf + premium for taking risk
= Rf + b (Rm – Rf)
v. Cost of Reserves
Reserves are created out of profits and are shareholders funds. So, the cost of reserves is nothing but cost of equity except that there are no flotation costs.
Kr = Ke (except flotation cost)
Weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
WACC (or) overall cost of capital Ko is the weighted average of each cost of specific source.
WE = weight of equity WD = weight of Debt weights are the proportions i.e. simply 
The proportions (or) weights may be Book value weights (or) market value weights. But the latter are more appropriate then the former.
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