One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Unitrade Industries Berhad (KLSE:UNITRAD).

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

View our latest analysis for Unitrade Industries Berhad

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Unitrade Industries Berhad is:

2.4% = RM7.9m ÷ RM335m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that for every MYR1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated MYR0.02 in profit.

Does Unitrade Industries Berhad Have A Good Return On Equity?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. If you look at the image below, you can see Unitrade Industries Berhad has a lower ROE than the average (5.2%) in the Trade Distributors industry classification.

Unfortunately, that's sub-optimal. However, a low ROE is not always bad. If the company's debt levels are moderate to low, then there's still a chance that returns can be improved via the use of financial leverage. When a company has low ROE but high debt levels, we would be cautious as the risk involved is too high. To know the 4 risks we have identified for Unitrade Industries Berhad visit our risks dashboard for free.

Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same.

Unitrade Industries Berhad's Debt And Its 2.4% ROE

Unitrade Industries Berhad does use a high amount of debt to increase returns. It has a debt to equity ratio of 1.74. The combination of a rather low ROE and significant use of debt is not particularly appealing. Debt does bring extra risk, so it's only really worthwhile when a company generates some decent returns from it.