There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. 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.
So should Midatech Pharma (LON:MTPH) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? In this report, we will consider the company's annual negative free cash flow, henceforth referring to it as the 'cash burn'. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.
View our latest analysis for Midatech Pharma
Does Midatech Pharma Have A Long Cash Runway?
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. In June 2021, Midatech Pharma had UK£4.2m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was UK£5.6m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of around 9 months as of June 2021. That's quite a short cash runway, indicating the company must either reduce its annual cash burn or replenish its cash. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.
How Is Midatech Pharma's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
In the last year, Midatech Pharma did book revenue of UK£576k, but its revenue from operations was less, at just UK£576k. Given how low that operating leverage is, we think it's too early to put much weight on the revenue growth, so we'll focus on how the cash burn is changing, instead. As it happens, the company's cash burn reduced by 40% over the last year, which suggests that management are mindful of the possibility of running out of cash. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of Midatech Pharma due to its lack of significant operating revenues. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.
Can Midatech Pharma Raise More Cash Easily?
Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for Midatech Pharma to raise more cash in the future. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).