Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' So it might be obvious that you need to consider debt, when you think about how risky any given stock is, because too much debt can sink a company. As with many other companies Resilux NV (EBR:RES) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
When Is Debt A Problem?
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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. Of course, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.
View our latest analysis for Resilux
What Is Resilux's Net Debt?
The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at June 2019 Resilux had debt of €86.0m, up from €46.7m in one year. On the flip side, it has €9.89m in cash leading to net debt of about €76.1m.
How Strong Is Resilux's Balance Sheet?
The latest balance sheet data shows that Resilux had liabilities of €140.3m due within a year, and liabilities of €29.9m falling due after that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of €9.89m as well as receivables valued at €68.3m due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling €92.1m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.
While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since Resilux has a market capitalization of €267.3m, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. But it's clear that we should definitely closely examine whether it can manage its debt without dilution.
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). The advantage of this approach is that we take into account both the absolute quantum of debt (with net debt to EBITDA) and the actual interest expenses associated with that debt (with its interest cover ratio).
Resilux's net debt to EBITDA ratio of about 1.8 suggests only moderate use of debt. And its strong interest cover of 16.2 times, makes us even more comfortable. Resilux grew its EBIT by 8.1% in the last year. That's far from incredible but it is a good thing, when it comes to paying off debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Resilux's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.