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Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. Importantly, Helios Towers PLC (LON:HTWS) does carry debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
Why Does Debt Bring Risk?
Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. However, a more usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.
View our latest analysis for Helios Towers
What Is Helios Towers's Debt?
As you can see below, Helios Towers had US$681.5m of debt at June 2019, down from US$717.7m a year prior. However, it does have US$89.8m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about US$591.8m.
A Look At Helios Towers's Liabilities
The latest balance sheet data shows that Helios Towers had liabilities of US$196.8m due within a year, and liabilities of US$788.5m falling due after that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$89.8m and US$125.6m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total US$769.9m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.
While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since Helios Towers has a market capitalization of US$1.44b, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.
We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.
While Helios Towers's debt to EBITDA ratio (3.4) suggests that it uses some debt, its interest cover is very weak, at 0.46, suggesting high leverage. In large part that's due to the company's significant depreciation and amortisation charges, which arguably mean its EBITDA is a very generous measure of earnings, and its debt may be more of a burden than it first appears. So shareholders should probably be aware that interest expenses appear to have really impacted the business lately. Looking on the bright side, Helios Towers boosted its EBIT by a silky 91% in the last year. Like a mother's loving embrace of a newborn that sort of growth builds resilience, putting the company in a stronger position to manage its debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is Helios Towers's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot.