Does Trejhara Solutions (NSE:TREJHARA) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the permanent loss of capital.' When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. We note that Trejhara Solutions Limited (NSE:TREJHARA) does have debt on its balance sheet. 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. However, a more usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for Trejhara Solutions

What Is Trejhara Solutions's Net Debt?

As you can see below, at the end of September 2021, Trejhara Solutions had ₹278.5m of debt, up from ₹128.4m a year ago. Click the image for more detail. And it doesn't have much cash, so its net debt is about the same.

How Strong Is Trejhara Solutions' Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Trejhara Solutions had liabilities of ₹982.5m falling due within a year, and liabilities of ₹236.0m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had ₹5.07m in cash and ₹205.0m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total ₹1.01b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

Given this deficit is actually higher than the company's market capitalization of ₹859.6m, we think shareholders really should watch Trejhara Solutions's debt levels, like a parent watching their child ride a bike for the first time. Hypothetically, extremely heavy dilution would be required if the company were forced to pay down its liabilities by raising capital at the current share price.

We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

We'd say that Trejhara Solutions's moderate net debt to EBITDA ratio ( being 2.0), indicates prudence when it comes to debt. And its strong interest cover of 82.2 times, makes us even more comfortable. Importantly, Trejhara Solutions grew its EBIT by 31% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But it is Trejhara Solutions's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. 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.

Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. So we always check how much of that EBIT is translated into free cash flow. In the last three years, Trejhara Solutions created free cash flow amounting to 16% of its EBIT, an uninspiring performance. That limp level of cash conversion undermines its ability to manage and pay down debt.

Our View

We feel some trepidation about Trejhara Solutions's difficulty level of total liabilities, but we've got positives to focus on, too. For example, its interest cover and EBIT growth rate give us some confidence in its ability to manage its debt. We think that Trejhara Solutions's debt does make it a bit risky, after considering the aforementioned data points together. Not all risk is bad, as it can boost share price returns if it pays off, but this debt risk is worth keeping in mind. 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. Be aware that Trejhara Solutions is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , 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.