Can Altia Oyj (HEL:ALTIA) Continue To Grow Its Returns On Capital?

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Altia Oyj (HEL:ALTIA) so let's look a bit deeper.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Altia Oyj:

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

0.13 = €32m ÷ (€429m - €186m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

So, Altia Oyj has an ROCE of 13%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Beverage industry average of 9.1% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Altia Oyj

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Altia Oyj compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From Altia Oyj's ROCE Trend?

Altia Oyj's ROCE growth is quite impressive. Looking at the data, we can see that even though capital employed in the business has remained relatively flat, the ROCE generated has risen by 112% over the last five years. So our take on this is that the business has increased efficiencies to generate these higher returns, all the while not needing to make any additional investments. It's worth looking deeper into this though because while it's great that the business is more efficient, it might also mean that going forward the areas to invest internally for the organic growth are lacking.

On a separate but related note, it's important to know that Altia Oyj has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 43%, which we'd consider pretty high. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.

Our Take On Altia Oyj's ROCE

To sum it up, Altia Oyj is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. And investors seem to expect more of this going forward, since the stock has rewarded shareholders with a 32% return over the last year. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.

If you want to continue researching Altia Oyj, you might be interested to know about the 2 warning signs that our analysis has discovered.

While Altia Oyj may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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