Pidilite Industries (NSE:PIDILITIND) Has A Rock Solid Balance Sheet

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. As with many other companies Pidilite Industries Limited (NSE:PIDILITIND) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Of course, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

View our latest analysis for Pidilite Industries

What Is Pidilite Industries's Net Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that as of September 2021 Pidilite Industries had ₹6.40b of debt, an increase on ₹1.57b, over one year. However, it also had ₹5.53b in cash, and so its net debt is ₹874.7m.

How Healthy Is Pidilite Industries' Balance Sheet?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Pidilite Industries had liabilities of ₹24.5b due within 12 months, and liabilities of ₹5.69b due beyond 12 months. Offsetting this, it had ₹5.53b in cash and ₹14.2b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total ₹10.5b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

Having regard to Pidilite Industries' size, it seems that its liquid assets are well balanced with its total liabilities. So it's very unlikely that the ₹1.24t company is short on cash, but still worth keeping an eye on the balance sheet. But either way, Pidilite Industries has virtually no net debt, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!

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.

With debt at a measly 0.044 times EBITDA and EBIT covering interest a whopping 75.8 times, it's clear that Pidilite Industries is not a desperate borrower. Indeed relative to its earnings its debt load seems light as a feather. On top of that, Pidilite Industries grew its EBIT by 54% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Pidilite Industries's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. Looking at the most recent three years, Pidilite Industries recorded free cash flow of 46% of its EBIT, which is weaker than we'd expect. That weak cash conversion makes it more difficult to handle indebtedness.

Our View

Pidilite Industries's interest cover suggests it can handle its debt as easily as Cristiano Ronaldo could score a goal against an under 14's goalkeeper. And the good news does not stop there, as its EBIT growth rate also supports that impression! Zooming out, Pidilite Industries seems to use debt quite reasonably; and that gets the nod from us. While debt does bring risk, when used wisely it can also bring a higher return on equity. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. For example - Pidilite Industries has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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.

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.

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