Yahoo Finance AURES Technologies (EPA:AURS) Has A Pretty Healthy Balance Sheet
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. As with many other companies AURES Technologies S.A. (EPA:AURS) makes use of debt. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?
What Risk Does Debt Bring?
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 frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basement prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.
Check out our latest analysis for AURES Technologies
What Is AURES Technologies's Net Debt?
You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that as of December 2018 AURES Technologies had €12.3m of debt, an increase on €2.33m, over one year. However, it does have €9.73m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about €2.62m.
How Healthy Is AURES Technologies's Balance Sheet?
Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that AURES Technologies had liabilities of €32.7m due within 12 months and liabilities of €9.56m due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of €9.73m and €19.4m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by €13.1m.
Of course, AURES Technologies has a market capitalization of €76.7m, so these liabilities are probably manageable. However, we do think it is worth keeping an eye on its balance sheet strength, as it may change over time.
In order to size up a company's debt relative to its earnings, we calculate its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) divided by its interest expense (its interest cover). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.
AURES Technologies's net debt is only 0.20 times its EBITDA. And its EBIT covers its interest expense a whopping 100 times over. So we're pretty relaxed about its super-conservative use of debt. And we also note warmly that AURES Technologies grew its EBIT by 13% last year, making its debt load easier to handle. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if AURES Technologies can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you're focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.
Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. So the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. In the last three years, AURES Technologies's free cash flow amounted to 25% of its EBIT, less than we'd expect. That weak cash conversion makes it more difficult to handle indebtedness.
Our View
Happily, AURES Technologies's impressive interest cover implies it has the upper hand on its debt. But, on a more sombre note, we are a little concerned by its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow. Looking at all the aforementioned factors together, it strikes us that AURES Technologies can handle its debt fairly comfortably. On the plus side, this leverage can boost shareholder returns, but the potential downside is more risk of loss, so it's worth monitoring the balance sheet. Another positive for shareholders is that it pays dividends. So if you like receiving those dividend payments, check AURES Technologies's dividend history, without delay!
When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.
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If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
