b) required candidates to consider the key factors which will influence the financing structure decision when acquiring the hotel. To gain professional marks candidates needed to consider the implications of each factor for the board of Nehby. Some candidates did not discuss a sufficiently wide range of factors.

Determining what source of finance is appropriate is an important topic in SBL and is knowledge brought forward from FM, so candidates should be familiar with the issues to consider.

Candidates who identified the key factors and used the case evidence to discuss the implications for the board were well rewarded and many achieved full technical and professional marks. Candidates who produced a technical answer on the factors failed to gain as many marks.