Is A2A (BIT:A2A) Using Too Much Debt?

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.' So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. We note that A2A S.p.A. (BIT:A2A) does have debt on its balance sheet. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. 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. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

View our latest analysis for A2A

What Is A2A's Net Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that A2A had debt of €3.53b at the end of September 2020, a reduction from €4.17b over a year. On the flip side, it has €280.0m in cash leading to net debt of about €3.25b.

A Look At A2A's Liabilities

The latest balance sheet data shows that A2A had liabilities of €2.69b due within a year, and liabilities of €4.22b falling due after that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of €280.0m as well as receivables valued at €1.73b due within 12 months. So its liabilities total €4.89b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

When you consider that this deficiency exceeds the company's €4.13b market capitalization, you might well be inclined to review the balance sheet intently. 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 measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (interest cover). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

A2A has net debt to EBITDA of 2.9 suggesting it uses a fair bit of leverage to boost returns. On the plus side, its EBIT was 9.2 times its interest expense, and its net debt to EBITDA, was quite high, at 2.9. Sadly, A2A's EBIT actually dropped 9.7% in the last year. If earnings continue on that decline then managing that debt will be difficult like delivering hot soup on a unicycle. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if A2A can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. So it's worth checking how much of that EBIT is backed by free cash flow. Over the most recent three years, A2A recorded free cash flow worth 57% of its EBIT, which is around normal, given free cash flow excludes interest and tax. This free cash flow puts the company in a good position to pay down debt, when appropriate.

Our View

To be frank both A2A's EBIT growth rate and its track record of staying on top of its total liabilities make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. But at least it's pretty decent at covering its interest expense with its EBIT; that's encouraging. It's also worth noting that A2A is in the Integrated Utilities industry, which is often considered to be quite defensive. Once we consider all the factors above, together, it seems to us that A2A's debt is making it a bit risky. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but we'd generally feel more comfortable with less leverage. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. Be aware that A2A is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you're interested in investing in businesses that can grow profits without the burden of debt, then check out this free list of growing businesses that have net cash on the balance sheet.

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