We Think Ilyda (ATH:ILYDA) Can Stay On Top Of Its Debt

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 can see that Ilyda SA (ATH:ILYDA) does use debt in its business. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.

When Is Debt Dangerous?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of 'creative destruction' where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. 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. 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. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

View our latest analysis for Ilyda

How Much Debt Does Ilyda Carry?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Ilyda had debt of €2.01m at the end of December 2020, a reduction from €2.32m over a year. However, it does have €381.0k in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about €1.63m.

How Strong Is Ilyda's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Ilyda had liabilities of €1.27m due within 12 months and liabilities of €2.40m due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of €381.0k and €1.90m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total €1.39m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

Of course, Ilyda has a market capitalization of €11.4m, so these liabilities are probably manageable. However, we do think it is worth keeping an eye on its balance sheet strength, as it may change over time.

We measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (interest cover). 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).

With net debt sitting at just 0.91 times EBITDA, Ilyda is arguably pretty conservatively geared. And this view is supported by the solid interest coverage, with EBIT coming in at 7.7 times the interest expense over the last year. Better yet, Ilyda grew its EBIT by 111% last year, which is an impressive improvement. That boost will make it even easier to pay down debt going forward. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Ilyda 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.

Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. So the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. Over the last two years, Ilyda recorded negative free cash flow, in total. Debt is usually more expensive, and almost always more risky in the hands of a company with negative free cash flow. Shareholders ought to hope for an improvement.

Our View

When it comes to the balance sheet, the standout positive for Ilyda was the fact that it seems able to grow its EBIT confidently. But the other factors we noted above weren't so encouraging. In particular, conversion of EBIT to free cash flow gives us cold feet. Considering this range of data points, we think Ilyda is in a good position to manage its debt levels. 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. We've identified 4 warning signs with Ilyda , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.

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