Does Compagnie de l'Odet (EPA:ODET) 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. We note that Compagnie de l'Odet (EPA:ODET) does have debt on its balance sheet. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

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. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. However, a more frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basement prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. Of course, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

View our latest analysis for Compagnie de l'Odet

What Is Compagnie de l'Odet's Net Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Compagnie de l'Odet had debt of €9.82b at the end of June 2021, a reduction from €11.2b over a year. However, because it has a cash reserve of €2.93b, its net debt is less, at about €6.89b.

A Look At Compagnie de l'Odet's Liabilities

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Compagnie de l'Odet had liabilities of €17.4b falling due within a year, and liabilities of €12.7b due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of €2.93b as well as receivables valued at €7.10b due within 12 months. So its liabilities total €20.0b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

The deficiency here weighs heavily on the €5.69b company itself, as if a child were struggling under the weight of an enormous back-pack full of books, his sports gear, and a trumpet. So we definitely think shareholders need to watch this one closely. After all, Compagnie de l'Odet would likely require a major re-capitalisation if it had to pay its creditors today.

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

Compagnie de l'Odet's net debt is 2.9 times its EBITDA, which is a significant but still reasonable amount of leverage. However, its interest coverage of 31.8 is very high, suggesting that the interest expense on the debt is currently quite low. It is well worth noting that Compagnie de l'Odet's EBIT shot up like bamboo after rain, gaining 54% in the last twelve months. That'll make it easier to manage its debt. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Compagnie de l'Odet 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.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. During the last three years, Compagnie de l'Odet generated free cash flow amounting to a very robust 95% of its EBIT, more than we'd expect. That positions it well to pay down debt if desirable to do so.

Our View

Compagnie de l'Odet's level of total liabilities was a real negative on this analysis, although the other factors we considered were considerably better. There's no doubt that its ability to to cover its interest expense with its EBIT is pretty flash. Looking at all this data makes us feel a little cautious about Compagnie de l'Odet's debt levels. While debt does have its upside in higher potential returns, we think shareholders should definitely consider how debt levels might make the stock more risky. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Compagnie de l'Odet you should know about.

If you're interested in investing in businesses that can grow profits without the burden of debt, then check out this free list of growing businesses that have net cash on the balance sheet.

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.

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