National Aluminium (NSE:NATIONALUM) Seems To Use Debt Rather Sparingly

Warren Buffett famously said, '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 can see that National Aluminium Company Limited (NSE:NATIONALUM) does use debt in its business. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. However, a more frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basement prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. By replacing dilution, though, debt can be an extremely good tool for businesses that need capital to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for National Aluminium

What Is National Aluminium's Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that National Aluminium had ₹771.0m of debt in March 2022, down from ₹1.33b, one year before. But on the other hand it also has ₹37.7b in cash, leading to a ₹36.9b net cash position.

How Strong Is National Aluminium's Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that National Aluminium had liabilities of ₹31.0b due within a year, and liabilities of ₹16.2b falling due after that. On the other hand, it had cash of ₹37.7b and ₹4.02b worth of receivables due within a year. So it has liabilities totalling ₹5.51b more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

Since publicly traded National Aluminium shares are worth a total of ₹146.8b, it seems unlikely that this level of liabilities would be a major threat. But there are sufficient liabilities that we would certainly recommend shareholders continue to monitor the balance sheet, going forward. While it does have liabilities worth noting, National Aluminium also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely.

Even more impressive was the fact that National Aluminium grew its EBIT by 146% over twelve months. That boost will make it even easier to pay down debt going forward. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But it is National Aluminium's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot.

Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. National Aluminium may have net cash on the balance sheet, but it is still interesting to look at how well the business converts its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, because that will influence both its need for, and its capacity to manage debt. During the last two years, National Aluminium produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 72% of its EBIT, about what we'd expect. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.

Summing Up

We could understand if investors are concerned about National Aluminium's liabilities, but we can be reassured by the fact it has has net cash of ₹36.9b. And it impressed us with its EBIT growth of 146% over the last year. So is National Aluminium's debt a risk? It doesn't seem so to us. 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. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for National Aluminium you should know about.

Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today.

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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.