Here's Why Dürr (ETR:DUE) Has A Meaningful Debt Burden

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. We note that Dürr Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:DUE) does have debt on its balance sheet. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Dürr

What Is Dürr's Net Debt?

As you can see below, at the end of December 2020, Dürr had €951.9m of debt, up from €798.2m a year ago. Click the image for more detail. But on the other hand it also has €1.06b in cash, leading to a €109.1m net cash position.

How Strong Is Dürr's Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that Dürr had liabilities of €2.15b due within a year, and liabilities of €816.2m falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had €1.06b in cash and €951.4m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total €958.2m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

Dürr has a market capitalization of €2.42b, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. But it's clear that we should definitely closely examine whether it can manage its debt without dilution. While it does have liabilities worth noting, Dürr also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely.

Importantly, Dürr's EBIT fell a jaw-dropping 92% in the last twelve months. If that decline continues then paying off debt will be harder than selling foie gras at a vegan convention. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Dürr can strengthen its balance sheet over time. 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 business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. Dürr 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. Over the most recent three years, Dürr recorded free cash flow worth 74% of its EBIT, which is around normal, given free cash flow excludes interest and tax. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.

Summing up

While Dürr does have more liabilities than liquid assets, it also has net cash of €109.1m. The cherry on top was that in converted 74% of that EBIT to free cash flow, bringing in €163m. So while Dürr does not have a great balance sheet, it's certainly not too bad. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Dürr you should know about.

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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