These 4 Measures Indicate That MVV Energie (ETR:MVV1) Is Using Debt Extensively

Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that '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 MVV Energie AG (ETR:MVV1) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

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When Is Debt A Problem?

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 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. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

What Is MVV Energie's Debt?

As you can see below, MVV Energie had €1.80b of debt, at March 2025, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. However, because it has a cash reserve of €480.7m, its net debt is less, at about €1.32b.

How Healthy Is MVV Energie's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that MVV Energie had liabilities of €2.28b due within 12 months and liabilities of €2.28b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of €480.7m and €1.31b worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by €2.77b.

When you consider that this deficiency exceeds the company's €1.92b market capitalization, you might well be inclined to review the balance sheet intently. In the scenario where the company had to clean up its balance sheet quickly, it seems likely shareholders would suffer extensive dilution.

Check out our latest analysis for MVV Energie

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). 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).

MVV Energie's net debt to EBITDA ratio of about 2.3 suggests only moderate use of debt. And its commanding EBIT of 18.6 times its interest expense, implies the debt load is as light as a peacock feather. One way MVV Energie could vanquish its debt would be if it stops borrowing more but continues to grow EBIT at around 18%, as it did over the last year. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since MVV Energie will need earnings to service that debt. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot.

Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. So it's worth checking how much of that EBIT is backed by free cash flow. Considering the last three years, MVV Energie actually recorded a cash outflow, overall. Debt is usually more expensive, and almost always more risky in the hands of a company with negative free cash flow. Shareholders ought to hope for an improvement.

Our View

To be frank both MVV Energie's conversion of EBIT to free cash flow and its track record of staying on top of its total liabilities make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. But at least it's pretty decent at covering its interest expense with its EBIT; that's encouraging. We should also note that Integrated Utilities industry companies like MVV Energie commonly do use debt without problems. Once we consider all the factors above, together, it seems to us that MVV Energie's debt is making it a bit risky. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but we'd generally feel more comfortable with less leverage. 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 MVV Energie 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.