Tatry mountain resorts (BSSE:1TMR001E) Use Of Debt Could Be Considered Risky

David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the permanent loss of capital.' When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. We can see that Tatry mountain resorts, a.s. (BSSE:1TMR001E) does use debt in its business. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.

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, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

View our latest analysis for Tatry mountain resorts

What Is Tatry mountain resorts's Debt?

As you can see below, Tatry mountain resorts had €302.8m of debt, at October 2020, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. And it doesn't have much cash, so its net debt is about the same.

How Healthy Is Tatry mountain resorts' Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that Tatry mountain resorts had liabilities of €186.9m due within a year, and liabilities of €191.5m falling due after that. On the other hand, it had cash of €4.52m and €98.6m worth of receivables due within a year. So it has liabilities totalling €275.2m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

When you consider that this deficiency exceeds the company's €218.7m market capitalization, you might well be inclined to review the balance sheet intently. Hypothetically, extremely heavy dilution would be required if the company were forced to pay down its liabilities by raising capital at the current share price.

In order to size up a company's debt relative to its earnings, we calculate its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) divided by its interest expense (its interest cover). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

Weak interest cover of 1.2 times and a disturbingly high net debt to EBITDA ratio of 11.8 hit our confidence in Tatry mountain resorts like a one-two punch to the gut. The debt burden here is substantial. Even worse, Tatry mountain resorts saw its EBIT tank 33% over the last 12 months. If earnings continue to follow that trajectory, paying off that debt load will be harder than convincing us to run a marathon in the rain. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Tatry mountain resorts will need earnings to service that debt. So if you're keen to discover more about its earnings, it might be worth checking out this graph of its long term earnings trend.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. So the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. In the last three years, Tatry mountain resorts's free cash flow amounted to 43% of its EBIT, less than we'd expect. That's not great, when it comes to paying down debt.

Our View

On the face of it, Tatry mountain resorts's interest cover left us tentative about the stock, and its EBIT growth rate was no more enticing than the one empty restaurant on the busiest night of the year. Having said that, its ability to convert EBIT to free cash flow isn't such a worry. After considering the datapoints discussed, we think Tatry mountain resorts has too much debt. That sort of riskiness is ok for some, but it certainly doesn't float our boat. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Tatry mountain resorts you should know about.

When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.

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