Currys (LON:CURY) Has Some Difficulty Using Its Capital Effectively

To avoid investing in a business that's in decline, there's a few financial metrics that can provide early indications of aging. More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. This reveals that the company isn't compounding shareholder wealth because returns are falling and its net asset base is shrinking. And from a first read, things don't look too good at Currys (LON:CURY), so let's see why.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Currys, this is the formula:

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

0.051 = UK£214m ÷ (UK£6.9b - UK£2.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2022).

Thus, Currys has an ROCE of 5.1%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Specialty Retail industry average of 14%.

View our latest analysis for Currys

In the above chart we have measured Currys' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From Currys' ROCE Trend?

There is reason to be cautious about Currys, given the returns are trending downwards. To be more specific, the ROCE was 10.0% five years ago, but since then it has dropped noticeably. On top of that, it's worth noting that the amount of capital employed within the business has remained relatively steady. Since returns are falling and the business has the same amount of assets employed, this can suggest it's a mature business that hasn't had much growth in the last five years. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on Currys becoming one if things continue as they have.

What We Can Learn From Currys' ROCE

In summary, it's unfortunate that Currys is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. It should come as no surprise then that the stock has fallen 62% over the last five years, so it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

On a final note, we've found 1 warning sign for Currys that we think you should be aware of.

While Currys may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.