Legendary fund manager Li Lu (who Charlie Munger backed) once said, ‘The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital. It’s only natural to consider a company’s balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. We note that Mercury NZ Limited (NZSE:MCY) does have debt on its balance sheet. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
When Is Debt A Problem?
Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. The first step when considering a company’s debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.
See our latest analysis for Mercury NZ
What Is Mercury NZ’s Debt?
The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Mercury NZ had debt of NZ$1.26b at the end of June 2019, a reduction from NZ$1.32b over a year. On the flip side, it has NZ$101.0m in cash leading to net debt of about NZ$1.16b.
A Look At Mercury NZ’s Liabilities
Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Mercury NZ had liabilities of NZ$821.0m due within 12 months and liabilities of NZ$2.13b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had NZ$101.0m in cash and NZ$250.0m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by NZ$2.60b.
This deficit isn’t so bad because Mercury NZ is worth NZ$7.44b, and thus could probably raise enough capital to shore up its balance sheet, if the need arose. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.
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). The advantage of this approach is that we take into account both the absolute quantum of debt (with net debt to EBITDA) and the actual interest expenses associated with that debt (with its interest cover ratio).
Mercury NZ has net debt worth 2.4 times EBITDA, which isn’t too much, but its interest cover looks a bit on the low side, with EBIT at only 4.0 times the interest expense. While these numbers do not alarm us, it’s worth noting that the cost of the company’s debt is having a real impact. Unfortunately, Mercury NZ’s EBIT flopped 18% over the last four quarters. If earnings continue to decline at that rate then handling the debt will be more difficult than taking three children under 5 to a fancy pants restaurant. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Mercury NZ can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you’re focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.
Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. So the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. During the last three years, Mercury NZ produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 73% of its EBIT, about what we’d expect. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.
Our View
Mercury NZ’s EBIT growth rate was a real negative on this analysis, although the other factors we considered cast it in a significantly better light. For example its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow was refreshing. We should also note that Electric Utilities industry companies like Mercury NZ commonly do use debt without problems. Looking at all the angles mentioned above, it does seem to us that Mercury NZ is a somewhat risky investment as a result of its debt. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since leverage can boost returns on equity, but it is something to be aware of. Above most other metrics, we think its important to track how fast earnings per share is growing, if at all. If you’ve also come to that realization, you’re in luck, because today you can view this interactive graph of Mercury NZ’s earnings per share history for free.
At the end of the day, it’s often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It’s free.
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If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.