Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about.' So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. Importantly, The Market Herald Limited (ASX:TMH) does carry debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
When Is Debt A Problem?
Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of 'creative destruction' where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. However, a more usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. Of course, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.
Check out our latest analysis for Market Herald
How Much Debt Does Market Herald Carry?
You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Market Herald had AU$9.35m of debt in June 2021, down from AU$11.6m, one year before. But it also has AU$19.3m in cash to offset that, meaning it has AU$9.95m net cash.
How Healthy Is Market Herald's Balance Sheet?
According to the last reported balance sheet, Market Herald had liabilities of AU$10.9m due within 12 months, and liabilities of AU$13.8m due beyond 12 months. Offsetting this, it had AU$19.3m in cash and AU$2.93m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by AU$2.47m.
This state of affairs indicates that Market Herald's balance sheet looks quite solid, as its total liabilities are just about equal to its liquid assets. So it's very unlikely that the AU$149.6m company is short on cash, but still worth keeping an eye on the balance sheet. While it does have liabilities worth noting, Market Herald also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely.
It was also good to see that despite losing money on the EBIT line last year, Market Herald turned things around in the last 12 months, delivering and EBIT of AU$6.4m. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Market Herald 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.