Is London & Associated Properties (LON:LAS) Weighed On By Its Debt Load?

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.' So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. Importantly, London & Associated Properties PLC (LON:LAS) does carry debt. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

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. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

View our latest analysis for London & Associated Properties

What Is London & Associated Properties's Debt?

The chart below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that London & Associated Properties had UK£40.6m in debt in June 2021; about the same as the year before. However, because it has a cash reserve of UK£8.30m, its net debt is less, at about UK£32.3m.

How Healthy Is London & Associated Properties' Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that London & Associated Properties had liabilities of UK£29.7m falling due within a year, and liabilities of UK£36.4m due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of UK£8.30m as well as receivables valued at UK£10.0m due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by UK£47.8m.

The deficiency here weighs heavily on the UK£12.8m 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, London & Associated Properties would likely require a major re-capitalisation if it had to pay its creditors today. 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 London & Associated Properties will need earnings to service that debt. So if you're keen to discover more about its earnings, it might be worth checking out this graph of its long term earnings trend.

Given it has no significant operating revenue at the moment, shareholders will be hoping London & Associated Properties can make progress and gain better traction for the business, before it runs low on cash.

Caveat Emptor

While London & Associated Properties's falling revenue is about as heartwarming as a wet blanket, arguably its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss is even less appealing. Indeed, it lost a very considerable UK£3.7m at the EBIT level. If you consider the significant liabilities mentioned above, we are extremely wary of this investment. Of course, it may be able to improve its situation with a bit of luck and good execution. Nevertheless, we would not bet on it given that it lost UK£6.3m in just last twelve months, and it doesn't have much by way of liquid assets. So we think this stock is quite risky. We'd prefer to pass. 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 3 warning signs for London & Associated Properties (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) 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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