Century Textiles and Industries (NSE:CENTURYTEX) Has A Somewhat Strained Balance Sheet

David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the permanent loss of capital.' 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 Century Textiles and Industries Limited (NSE:CENTURYTEX) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. 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 thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for Century Textiles and Industries

How Much Debt Does Century Textiles and Industries Carry?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at March 2020 Century Textiles and Industries had debt of ₹5.84b, up from ₹5.39b in one year. However, it also had ₹1.47b in cash, and so its net debt is ₹4.36b.

How Healthy Is Century Textiles and Industries's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Century Textiles and Industries had liabilities of ₹18.8b due within 12 months and liabilities of ₹12.5b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of ₹1.47b and ₹2.15b worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by ₹27.7b.

This deficit is considerable relative to its market capitalization of ₹36.9b, so it does suggest shareholders should keep an eye on Century Textiles and Industries's use of debt. Should its lenders demand that it shore up the balance sheet, shareholders would likely face severe dilution.

We measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (interest cover). 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).

Century Textiles and Industries has a very low debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.1 so it is strange to see weak interest coverage, with last year's EBIT being only 1.9 times the interest expense. So while we're not necessarily alarmed we think that its debt is far from trivial. Shareholders should be aware that Century Textiles and Industries's EBIT was down 77% last year. If that earnings trend continues then paying off its debt will be about as easy as herding cats on to a roller coaster. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But it is Century Textiles and Industries's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. So if you're keen to discover more about its earnings, it might be worth checking out this graph of its long term earnings trend.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. So it's worth checking how much of that EBIT is backed by free cash flow. Over the last three years, Century Textiles and Industries actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. That sort of strong cash conversion gets us as excited as the crowd when the beat drops at a Daft Punk concert.

Our View

Century Textiles and Industries's EBIT growth rate and interest cover definitely weigh on it, in our esteem. But its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow tells a very different story, and suggests some resilience. Taking the abovementioned factors together we do think Century Textiles and Industries's debt poses some risks to the business. While that debt can boost returns, we think the company has enough leverage now. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Century Textiles and Industries , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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. 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.
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