Returns On Capital At BCM Alliance Berhad (KLSE:BCMALL) Paint A Concerning Picture

There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at BCM Alliance Berhad (KLSE:BCMALL) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for BCM Alliance Berhad:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.04 = RM4.3m ÷ (RM127m - RM19m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

Thus, BCM Alliance Berhad has an ROCE of 4.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Trade Distributors industry average of 6.8%.

View our latest analysis for BCM Alliance Berhad

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for BCM Alliance Berhad's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating BCM Alliance Berhad's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

In terms of BCM Alliance Berhad's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 4.0% from 31% five years ago. Given the business is employing more capital while revenue has slipped, this is a bit concerning. If this were to continue, you might be looking at a company that is trying to reinvest for growth but is actually losing market share since sales haven't increased.

On a related note, BCM Alliance Berhad has decreased its current liabilities to 15% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

What We Can Learn From BCM Alliance Berhad's ROCE

We're a bit apprehensive about BCM Alliance Berhad because despite more capital being deployed in the business, returns on that capital and sales have both fallen. Long term shareholders who've owned the stock over the last three years have experienced a 14% depreciation in their investment, so it appears the market might not like these trends either. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

BCM Alliance Berhad does come with some risks though, we found 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those can't be ignored...

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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