Reckitt Benckiser Group (LON:RKT) Has A Pretty Healthy Balance Sheet

Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. Importantly, Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LON:RKT) does carry debt. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. 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. By replacing dilution, though, debt can be an extremely good tool for businesses that need capital to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for Reckitt Benckiser Group

What Is Reckitt Benckiser Group's Net Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Reckitt Benckiser Group had UK£9.31b of debt in December 2021, down from UK£10.2b, one year before. However, it also had UK£1.26b in cash, and so its net debt is UK£8.05b.

How Healthy Is Reckitt Benckiser Group's Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Reckitt Benckiser Group had liabilities of UK£8.09b falling due within a year, and liabilities of UK£11.4b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had UK£1.26b in cash and UK£2.00b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total UK£16.2b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since Reckitt Benckiser Group has a huge market capitalization of UK£45.0b, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.

We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). The advantage of this approach is that we take into account both the absolute quantum of debt (with net debt to EBITDA) and the actual interest expenses associated with that debt (with its interest cover ratio).

Reckitt Benckiser Group's net debt is 2.7 times its EBITDA, which is a significant but still reasonable amount of leverage. However, its interest coverage of 12.7 is very high, suggesting that the interest expense on the debt is currently quite low. The bad news is that Reckitt Benckiser Group saw its EBIT decline by 13% over the last year. If that sort of decline is not arrested, then the managing its debt will be harder than selling broccoli flavoured ice-cream for a premium. 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 Reckitt Benckiser Group's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you're focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. So we always check how much of that EBIT is translated into free cash flow. During the last three years, Reckitt Benckiser Group produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 76% of its EBIT, about what we'd expect. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.

Our View

Reckitt Benckiser Group's interest cover was a real positive on this analysis, as was its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow. In contrast, our confidence was undermined by its apparent struggle to grow its EBIT. When we consider all the elements mentioned above, it seems to us that Reckitt Benckiser Group is managing its debt quite well. Having said that, the load is sufficiently heavy that we would recommend any shareholders keep a close eye on it. 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 2 warning signs for Reckitt Benckiser Group (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) you should know about.

Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today.

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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.