Here's What's Concerning About Pasukhas Group Berhad's (KLSE:PASUKGB) Returns On Capital

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Although, when we looked at Pasukhas Group Berhad (KLSE:PASUKGB), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Pasukhas Group Berhad is:

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

0.016 = RM2.7m ÷ (RM205m - RM32m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

So, Pasukhas Group Berhad has an ROCE of 1.6%. 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 Pasukhas Group Berhad

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of Pasukhas Group Berhad, check out these free graphs here.

How Are Returns Trending?

In terms of Pasukhas Group Berhad's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 2.3%, but since then they've fallen to 1.6%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

On a related note, Pasukhas Group Berhad has decreased its current liabilities to 16% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. 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. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

Our Take On Pasukhas Group Berhad's ROCE

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Pasukhas Group Berhad. Despite these promising trends, the stock has collapsed 97% over the last five years, so there could be other factors hurting the company's prospects. Regardless, reinvestment can pay off in the long run, so we think astute investors may want to look further into this stock.

Pasukhas Group Berhad does come with some risks though, we found 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 3 of those are concerning...

While Pasukhas Group Berhad may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.