Executive Summary The two primary participants in this case study are Jackie Patrick and Paul Mackay. Patrick is the newly appointed loans officer for the Commercial Bank of Ontario. Mackay is the sole proprietor of Lawsons. Lawsons is a general merchandising retailer located in Riverdale, Ontario. Lawsons offered competitive prices and targeted the low to middle income families. Their product selection varied from men, women’s and children’s clothing to household items, toys or health and beauty items. To help start up his business; in 1998 Mackay took out a loan of $50,000 from the Commercial Bank of Ontario. Due to his substantial trade debt he accumulated over the next 5 years Mackay went to take out another two loans. The first …show more content…

The most noticeable probably being the growth in sales from 2002 to 2003. Sales increased by 23.5% after the expansion of the store. This is a very promising number when comparing it to previous years sales increases of less than 10%. Another positive trend is the increase in net earnings. In the last 4 years net earnings has almost doubled. Gross profit is also on the incline. These are all signs of increasing profitability.

Projections Sales
History – 23.5% over the last year
Management Estimate – 10% over each of the next two years
Economy – No indication, but most likely improving

[the following calculations are approximations and not 100% accurate] From 2002 to 2003 when the increase of sales was 23.5% the increase in gross profit was about 30%. If this rate is applied to the projected 10% sales growth of 2004 the gross profit growth should be somewhere around 15%. An approximate $25,000 increase in gross profit would occur in 2004. Also, if Mackay were to receive these loans his total annual interest payout would be about $10,000 less. Providing that the main operating expenses remain the same, this would be a $35,000 increase to net earnings in 2004. This number would increase even more in 2005. With this large increase in net earnings Mackay should have no problem putting money towards paying off his bank loans.
Alternatives

1) Deny both loans completely
Pros: If the