Returns On Capital At UMS Holdings Berhad (KLSE:UMS) Paint A Concerning Picture

To avoid investing in a business that's in decline, there's a few financial metrics that can provide early indications of aging. When we see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) in conjunction with a declining base of capital employed, that's often how a mature business shows signs of aging. Trends like this ultimately mean the business is reducing its investments and also earning less on what it has invested. And from a first read, things don't look too good at UMS Holdings Berhad (KLSE:UMS), so let's see why.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for UMS Holdings Berhad:

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

0.077 = RM12m ÷ (RM164m - RM3.0m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

So, UMS Holdings Berhad has an ROCE of 7.7%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 7.7%, it's still a low return by itself.

Check out our latest analysis for UMS Holdings 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'd like to look at how UMS Holdings Berhad has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

So How Is UMS Holdings Berhad's ROCE Trending?

In terms of UMS Holdings Berhad's historical ROCE movements, the trend doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, the ROCE was 14% five years ago, but since then it has dropped noticeably. Meanwhile, capital employed in the business has stayed roughly the flat over the period. This combination can be indicative of a mature business that still has areas to deploy capital, but the returns received aren't as high due potentially to new competition or smaller margins. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect UMS Holdings Berhad to turn into a multi-bagger.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, it's unfortunate that UMS Holdings Berhad is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. Investors haven't taken kindly to these developments, since the stock has declined 22% from where it was five years ago. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

One final note, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with UMS Holdings Berhad (including 1 which is makes us a bit uncomfortable) .

While UMS Holdings Berhad isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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