Does Bolloré (EPA:BOL) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

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. Importantly, Bolloré SE (EPA:BOL) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

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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 common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. 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.

What Is Bolloré's Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Bolloré had €259.8m of debt in June 2025, down from €5.49b, one year before. However, its balance sheet shows it holds €5.90b in cash, so it actually has €5.64b net cash.

A Look At Bolloré's Liabilities

The latest balance sheet data shows that Bolloré had liabilities of €1.04b due within a year, and liabilities of €376.4m falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had €5.90b in cash and €635.4m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it actually has €5.12b more liquid assets than total liabilities.

This surplus strongly suggests that Bolloré has a rock-solid balance sheet (and the debt is of no concern whatsoever). Having regard to this fact, we think its balance sheet is as strong as an ox. Simply put, the fact that Bolloré has more cash than debt is arguably a good indication that it can manage its debt safely. 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 Bolloré 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Bolloré

While it hasn't made a profit, at least Bolloré booked its first revenue as a publicly listed company, in the last twelve months.

So How Risky Is Bolloré?

Although Bolloré had an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss over the last twelve months, it made a statutory profit of €448m. So taking that on face value, and considering the cash, we don't think its very risky in the near term. We'll feel more comfortable with the stock once EBIT is positive, given the lacklustre revenue growth. 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. We've identified 1 warning sign with Bolloré , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.