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Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.
Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Hifood Group Holdings (HKG:442) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. For the purpose of this article, we'll define cash burn as the amount of cash the company is spending each year to fund its growth (also called its negative free cash flow). First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.
See our latest analysis for Hifood Group Holdings
When Might Hifood Group Holdings Run Out Of Money?
You can calculate a company's cash runway by dividing the amount of cash it has by the rate at which it is spending that cash. Hifood Group Holdings has such a small amount of debt that we'll set it aside, and focus on the HK$271m in cash it held at March 2019. Importantly, its cash burn was HK$4.9m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of very many years as of March 2019. Even though this is but one measure of the company's cash burn, the thought of such a long cash runway warms our bellies in a comforting way. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.
Is Hifood Group Holdings's Revenue Growing?
We're hesitant to extrapolate on the recent trend to assess its cash burn, because Hifood Group Holdings actually had positive free cash flow last year, so operating revenue growth is probably our best bet to measure, right now. Regrettably, the company's operating revenue moved in the wrong direction over the last twelve months, declining by 49%. In reality, this article only makes a short study of the company's growth data. You can take a look at how Hifood Group Holdings has developed its business over time by checking this visualization of its revenue and earnings history.
How Easily Can Hifood Group Holdings Raise Cash?
Since its revenue growth is moving in the wrong direction, Hifood Group Holdings shareholders may wish to think ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations.