Returns On Capital Tell Us A Lot About Prosegur Cash (BME:CASH)

If you're looking at a mature business that's past the growth phase, what are some of the underlying trends that pop up? Typically, we'll see the trend of both return on capital employed (ROCE) declining and this usually coincides with a decreasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately this means that the company is earning less per dollar invested and on top of that, it's shrinking its base of capital employed. Having said that, after a brief look, Prosegur Cash (BME:CASH) we aren't filled with optimism, but let's investigate further.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Prosegur Cash is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.14 = €195m ÷ (€1.9b - €570m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

Thus, Prosegur Cash has an ROCE of 14%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Commercial Services industry average of 11% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Prosegur Cash

In the above chart we have measured Prosegur Cash's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Prosegur Cash.

The Trend Of ROCE

We are a bit worried about the trend of returns on capital at Prosegur Cash. About five years ago, returns on capital were 24%, however they're now substantially lower than that as we saw above. And on the capital employed front, the business is utilizing roughly the same amount of capital as it was back then. This combination can be indicative of a mature business that still has areas to deploy capital, but the returns received aren't as high due potentially to new competition or smaller margins. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect Prosegur Cash to turn into a multi-bagger.

On a side note, Prosegur Cash has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 29% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, it's unfortunate that Prosegur Cash is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. Long term shareholders who've owned the stock over the last three years have experienced a 67% depreciation in their investment, so it appears the market might not like these trends either. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

Prosegur Cash does have some risks though, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Prosegur Cash that you might be interested in.

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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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