While some investors are already well versed in financial metrics (hat tip), this article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE) and why it is important. We'll use ROE to examine Samko Timber Limited (SGX:E6R), by way of a worked example.

Over the last twelve months Samko Timber has recorded a ROE of 2.8%. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each SGD1 of shareholders' equity it has, the company made SGD0.03 in profit.

Check out our latest analysis for Samko Timber

How Do You Calculate ROE?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

Or for Samko Timber:

2.8% = Rp5.7b ÷ Rp202b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019.)

It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is all earnings retained by the company, plus any capital paid in by shareholders. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets.

What Does Return On Equity Signify?

ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the yearly profit. A higher profit will lead to a higher ROE. So, all else being equal, a high ROE is better than a low one. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses.

Does Samko Timber Have A Good Return On Equity?

Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, Samko Timber has a lower ROE than the average (6.8%) in the Forestry industry.

That certainly isn't ideal. We prefer it when the ROE of a company is above the industry average, but it's not the be-all and end-all if it is lower. Still, shareholders might want to check if insiders have been selling.

How Does Debt Impact Return On Equity?

Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the debt used for growth will improve returns, but won't affect the total equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.

Samko Timber's Debt And Its 2.8% ROE

It appears that Samko Timber makes extensive use of debt to improve its returns, because it has a relatively high debt to equity ratio of 5.80. We consider it to be a negative sign when a company has a rather low ROE despite rather high debt to equity.