Is There More To The Story Than Biofarm's (BVB:BIO) Earnings Growth?

Many investors consider it preferable to invest in profitable companies over unprofitable ones, because profitability suggests a business is sustainable. That said, the current statutory profit is not always a good guide to a company's underlying profitability. This article will consider whether Biofarm's (BVB:BIO) statutory profits are a good guide to its underlying earnings.

We like the fact that Biofarm made a profit of RON56.3m on its revenue of RON213.6m, in the last year. In the chart below, you can see that its profit and revenue have both grown over the last three years.

See our latest analysis for Biofarm

Of course, when it comes to statutory profit, the devil is often in the detail, and we can get a better sense for a company by diving deeper into the financial statements. So today we'll look at what Biofarm's cashflow tells us about the quality of its earnings. Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of Biofarm.

Zooming In On Biofarm's Earnings

In high finance, the key ratio used to measure how well a company converts reported profits into free cash flow (FCF) is the accrual ratio (from cashflow). The accrual ratio subtracts the FCF from the profit for a given period, and divides the result by the average operating assets of the company over that time. This ratio tells us how much of a company's profit is not backed by free cashflow.

Therefore, it's actually considered a good thing when a company has a negative accrual ratio, but a bad thing if its accrual ratio is positive. That is not intended to imply we should worry about a positive accrual ratio, but it's worth noting where the accrual ratio is rather high. That's because some academic studies have suggested that high accruals ratios tend to lead to lower profit or less profit growth.

For the year to September 2020, Biofarm had an accrual ratio of 0.25. We can therefore deduce that its free cash flow fell well short of covering its statutory profit. Indeed, in the last twelve months it reported free cash flow of RON11m, which is significantly less than its profit of RON56.3m. Biofarm's free cash flow actually declined over the last year, but it may bounce back next year, since free cash flow is often more volatile than accounting profits. The good news for shareholders is that Biofarm's accrual ratio was much better last year, so this year's poor reading might simply be a case of a short term mismatch between profit and FCF. As a result, some shareholders may be looking for stronger cash conversion in the current year.

Our Take On Biofarm's Profit Performance

Biofarm didn't convert much of its profit to free cash flow in the last year, which some investors may consider rather suboptimal. Therefore, it seems possible to us that Biofarm's true underlying earnings power is actually less than its statutory profit. But at least holders can take some solace from the 59% per annum growth in EPS for the last three. The goal of this article has been to assess how well we can rely on the statutory earnings to reflect the company's potential, but there is plenty more to consider. If you'd like to know more about Biofarm as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Biofarm (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Biofarm's profit. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. For example, many people consider a high return on equity as an indication of favorable business economics, while others like to 'follow the money' and search out stocks that insiders are buying. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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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. 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.
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