Is Britannia Industries Limited's (NSE:BRITANNIA) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

Britannia Industries (NSE:BRITANNIA) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 37% over the last three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Britannia Industries' ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for Britannia Industries

How Is ROE Calculated?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Britannia Industries is:

31% = ₹14b ÷ ₹44b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₹1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₹0.31 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learnt that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

Britannia Industries' Earnings Growth And 31% ROE

To begin with, Britannia Industries has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 10% which is quite remarkable. This probably laid the groundwork for Britannia Industries' moderate 13% net income growth seen over the past five years.

We then compared Britannia Industries' net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 20% in the same period, which is a bit concerning.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Britannia Industries is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Britannia Industries Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Britannia Industries has a three-year median payout ratio of 30%, which implies that it retains the remaining 70% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Besides, Britannia Industries has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 48% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the higher expected payout ratio.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Britannia Industries' performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. As a result, the decent growth in its earnings is not surprising. The latest industry analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to maintain its current growth rate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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