Investors Could Be Concerned With MBV International's (HKG:1957) Returns On Capital

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at MBV International (HKG:1957) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for MBV International:

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

0.13 = RM24m ÷ (RM196m - RM8.4m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Therefore, MBV International has an ROCE of 13%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 4.0% generated by the Retail Distributors industry.

See our latest analysis for MBV International

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for MBV International's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of MBV International, check out these free graphs here.

The Trend Of ROCE

In terms of MBV International's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 30%, but since then they've fallen to 13%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

On a related note, MBV International has decreased its current liabilities to 4.3% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. 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.

The Bottom Line

While returns have fallen for MBV International in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. And long term investors must be optimistic going forward because the stock has returned a huge 293% to shareholders in the last three years. So while the underlying trends could already be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

One more thing: We've identified 3 warning signs with MBV International (at least 2 which are concerning) , and understanding these would certainly be useful.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.

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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.