Begin with a research question, not a spreadsheet
A company valuation project can quickly become a collection of unrelated ratios and slides. Our five-person academic team therefore needed a shared structure before dividing the work: understand City Developments Limited, place it inside Singapore real estate, select useful competitors and compare five years of financial ratios on compatible definitions.
Leadership meant protecting comparability
As team leader, I assigned sections, monitored progress and reviewed the combined submission. The more important task was making separate contributions comparable. A ratio is not useful when one section uses a different period, definition or peer set. Coordination therefore meant asking why a metric belonged in the analysis and how it connected to the team's final narrative.
Industry context changes how numbers are read
Real-estate companies cannot be understood from one period in isolation. Development cycles, property mix, financing and market conditions influence revenue, margins and leverage. Reviewing company history and Singapore's industry environment created the context for interpreting five-year movements and competitor differences rather than treating every change as a standalone signal.
What remains verifiable
My 2024 resume verifies the date, five-person team, leadership role and the scope covering company background, industry research and five-year competitor ratios. The original report, spreadsheet and presentation have not yet been found. I therefore cannot responsibly publish a target price, DCF output, recommendation or exact valuation result.
What I would improve now
If the source files are recovered, I would first document the data cut-off date, ratio formulas, peer-selection criteria and every source. I would then separate operating comparison from valuation assumptions, add sensitivity analysis and preserve a reproducible model. The most useful lesson from revisiting the project is simple: the confidence of the conclusion must never exceed the quality of the surviving evidence.