Free Cash Flow

This one is not written up yet

The definition above is the short version. A full explanation — how it works, a worked example and the exam traps — is still being written. In the meantime the chapter below covers it in context.

Written up from the same chapter

• Bottom-up approachSizing a market by taking the revenue of individual companies and aggregating it upward — accurate where companies disclose, blind where they do not.
• Churn RateThe percentage of customers who discontinue using a product or service over a given period — the metric that decides whether acquired customers are an asset or a leaking bucket.
• Discounted Cash FlowA valuation method that estimates the cash a business will generate in future years and converts each year back to what it is worth today.
• Enterprise ValueWhat it would cost to buy the whole business — market capitalisation plus debt, less cash — as opposed to market capitalisation, which buys only the equity.
• Fair valueThe theoretical futures price — spot plus the cost of carrying the commodity to expiry — at which a buyer is indifferent between buying today and buying forward.
• IPEV GuidelinesThe international best-practice guidelines for valuing unlisted private equity and venture capital investments at fair value, setting out seven widely used methods for valuing a portfolio company.