Yahoo Finance Rotork (LON:ROR) Has A Pretty Healthy Balance Sheet
Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about.' 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. Importantly, Rotork plc (LON:ROR) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?
Why Does Debt Bring Risk?
Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. 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. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.
Check out our latest analysis for Rotork
What Is Rotork's Net Debt?
The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at December 2021 Rotork had debt of UK£9.34m, up from UK£837.0k in one year. But it also has UK£123.5m in cash to offset that, meaning it has UK£114.1m net cash.
How Healthy Is Rotork's Balance Sheet?
We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Rotork had liabilities of UK£112.6m falling due within a year, and liabilities of UK£20.0m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had UK£123.5m in cash and UK£139.6m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it actually has UK£130.4m more liquid assets than total liabilities.
This surplus suggests that Rotork has a conservative balance sheet, and could probably eliminate its debt without much difficulty. Succinctly put, Rotork boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!
But the bad news is that Rotork has seen its EBIT plunge 13% in the last twelve months. If that rate of decline in earnings continues, the company could find itself in a tight spot. 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 Rotork'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.
Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. Rotork may have net cash on the balance sheet, but it is still interesting to look at how well the business converts its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, because that will influence both its need for, and its capacity to manage debt. During the last three years, Rotork generated free cash flow amounting to a very robust 83% of its EBIT, more than we'd expect. That positions it well to pay down debt if desirable to do so.
Summing up
While we empathize with investors who find debt concerning, you should keep in mind that Rotork has net cash of UK£114.1m, as well as more liquid assets than liabilities. And it impressed us with free cash flow of UK£65m, being 83% of its EBIT. So we don't think Rotork's use of debt is risky. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Rotork that you should be aware of.
At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
