Returns On Capital At Angling Direct (LON:ANG) Paint A Concerning Picture

What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Although, when we looked at Angling Direct (LON:ANG), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Angling Direct is:

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

0.035 = UK£1.5m ÷ (UK£52m - UK£8.1m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to January 2021).

Thus, Angling Direct has an ROCE of 3.5%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Specialty Retail industry average of 13%.

View our latest analysis for Angling Direct

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Angling Direct compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Angling Direct.

What Can We Tell From Angling Direct's ROCE Trend?

Unfortunately, the trend isn't great with ROCE falling from 20% five years ago, while capital employed has grown 1,714%. However, some of the increase in capital employed could be attributed to the recent capital raising that's been completed prior to their latest reporting period, so keep that in mind when looking at the ROCE decrease. The funds raised likely haven't been put to work yet so it's worth watching what happens in the future with Angling Direct's earnings and if they change as a result from the capital raise.

On a side note, Angling Direct has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 16% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

What We Can Learn From Angling Direct's ROCE

While returns have fallen for Angling Direct in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. These growth trends haven't led to growth returns though, since the stock has fallen 33% over the last three years. So we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the trends look encouraging.

On a final note, we found 4 warning signs for Angling Direct (1 can't be ignored) you should be aware of.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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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