MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services (NSE:MITCON) Use Of Debt Could Be Considered Risky

Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' 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 note that MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services Limited (NSE:MITCON) does have debt on its balance sheet. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. Of course, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

Check out our latest analysis for MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services

What Is MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services's Debt?

As you can see below, MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services had ₹681.1m of debt, at September 2021, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. However, it does have ₹150.0m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about ₹531.1m.

How Healthy Is MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services' Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services had liabilities of ₹437.1m due within a year, and liabilities of ₹709.9m falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had ₹150.0m in cash and ₹742.4m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling ₹254.6m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services has a market capitalization of ₹902.6m, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.

In order to size up a company's debt relative to its earnings, we calculate its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) divided by its interest expense (its interest cover). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.

While we wouldn't worry about MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services's net debt to EBITDA ratio of 4.9, we think its super-low interest cover of 0.98 times is a sign of high leverage. It seems clear that the cost of borrowing money is negatively impacting returns for shareholders, of late. Even worse, MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services saw its EBIT tank 43% over the last 12 months. If earnings keep going like that over the long term, it has a snowball's chance in hell of paying off that debt. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services 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.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So we always check how much of that EBIT is translated into free cash flow. Over the last three years, MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services 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

To be frank both MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services's interest cover and its track record of (not) growing its EBIT make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. Having said that, its ability to handle its total liabilities isn't such a worry. Overall, it seems to us that MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services's balance sheet is really quite a risk to the business. So we're almost as wary of this stock as a hungry kitten is about falling into its owner's fish pond: once bitten, twice shy, as they say. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. For example MITCON Consultancy & Engineering Services has 4 warning signs (and 2 which are a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about.

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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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.