These 4 Measures Indicate That Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad (BME:PSG) Is Using Debt Extensively

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.' 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 can see that Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad, S.A. (BME:PSG) does use debt in its business. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

When Is Debt A Problem?

Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of 'creative destruction' where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. 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 Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad

How Much Debt Does Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad Carry?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that as of December 2020 Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad had €1.91b of debt, an increase on €1.62b, over one year. However, it does have €917.0m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about €993.0m.

How Strong Is Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad's Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad had liabilities of €1.27b due within a year, and liabilities of €1.92b falling due after that. On the other hand, it had cash of €917.0m and €741.2m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total €1.54b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

This is a mountain of leverage relative to its market capitalization of €1.54b. This suggests shareholders would be heavily diluted if the company needed to shore up its balance sheet in a hurry.

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). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.

Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad has a debt to EBITDA ratio of 3.7, which signals significant debt, but is still pretty reasonable for most types of business. However, its interest coverage of 14.1 is very high, suggesting that the interest expense on the debt is currently quite low. Shareholders should be aware that Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad's EBIT was down 60% last year. If that decline continues then paying off debt will be harder than selling foie gras at a vegan convention. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So it's worth checking how much of that EBIT is backed by free cash flow. During the last three years, Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 51% of its EBIT, about what we'd expect. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.

Our View

Mulling over Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad's attempt at (not) growing its EBIT, we're certainly not enthusiastic. But at least it's pretty decent at covering its interest expense with its EBIT; that's encouraging. Looking at the bigger picture, it seems clear to us that Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad's use of debt is creating risks for the company. If all goes well, that should boost returns, but on the flip side, the risk of permanent capital loss is elevated by the debt. 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. For example Prosegur Compañía de Seguridad has 3 warning signs (and 2 which are significant) we think 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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