Is SinoMedia Holding (HKG:623) Headed For Trouble?

When we're researching a company, it's sometimes hard to find the warning signs, but there are some financial metrics that can help spot trouble early. More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. This indicates to us that the business is not only shrinking the size of its net assets, but its returns are falling as well. In light of that, from a first glance at SinoMedia Holding (HKG:623), we've spotted some signs that it could be struggling, so let's investigate.

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 SinoMedia Holding, this is the formula:

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

0.058 = CN¥92m ÷ (CN¥1.9b - CN¥308m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

Therefore, SinoMedia Holding has an ROCE of 5.8%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Media industry average of 18%.

See our latest analysis for SinoMedia Holding

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you're interested in investigating SinoMedia Holding's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

The Trend Of ROCE

We are a bit worried about the trend of returns on capital at SinoMedia Holding. Unfortunately the returns on capital have diminished from the 12% that they were earning five years ago. 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 SinoMedia Holding becoming one if things continue as they have.

On a related note, SinoMedia Holding has decreased its current liabilities to 16% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. 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 SinoMedia Holding's ROCE

All in all, the lower returns from the same amount of capital employed aren't exactly signs of a compounding machine. Investors haven't taken kindly to these developments, since the stock has declined 49% from where it was five years ago. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

On a final note, we found 4 warning signs for SinoMedia Holding (1 is a bit concerning) you should be aware of.

While SinoMedia Holding 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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