Is Terme Catez d.d (LJSE:TCRG) Shrinking?

If we're looking to avoid a business that is in decline, what are the trends that can warn us ahead of time? Businesses in decline often have two underlying trends, firstly, a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining base of capital employed. This indicates the company is producing less profit from its investments and its total assets are decreasing. And from a first read, things don't look too good at Terme Catez d.d (LJSE:TCRG), 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. To calculate this metric for Terme Catez d.d, this is the formula:

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

0.017 = €1.8m ÷ (€159m - €53m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019).

Thus, Terme Catez d.d has an ROCE of 1.7%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Hospitality industry average of 6.4%.

Check out our latest analysis for Terme Catez d.d

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Terme Catez d.d's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Terme Catez d.d has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The trend of ROCE at Terme Catez d.d is showing some signs of weakness. Unfortunately, returns have declined substantially over the last five years to the 1.7% we see today. In addition to that, Terme Catez d.d is now employing 31% less capital than it was five years ago. The combination of lower ROCE and less capital employed can indicate that a business is likely to be facing some competitive headwinds or seeing an erosion to its moat. If these underlying trends continue, we wouldn't be too optimistic going forward.

Our Take On Terme Catez d.d's ROCE

To see Terme Catez d.d reducing the capital employed in the business in tandem with diminishing returns, is concerning. And, the stock has remained flat over the last five years, so investors don't seem too impressed either. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

If you'd like to know more about Terme Catez d.d, we've spotted 4 warning signs, and 1 of them can't be ignored.

While Terme Catez d.d 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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