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David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the permanent loss of capital. 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. We note that ENAV S.p.A. (BIT:ENAV) does have debt on its balance sheet. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?
What Risk Does Debt Bring?
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. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.
See our latest analysis for ENAV
What Is ENAV's Debt?
As you can see below, ENAV had €347.2m of debt at June 2019, down from €364.6m a year prior. However, it does have €293.7m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about €53.5m.
How Healthy Is ENAV's Balance Sheet?
Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that ENAV had liabilities of €349.6m due within 12 months and liabilities of €588.5m due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of €293.7m as well as receivables valued at €358.1m due within 12 months. So its liabilities total €286.3m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.
Of course, ENAV has a market capitalization of €2.76b, so these liabilities are probably manageable. But there are sufficient liabilities that we would certainly recommend shareholders continue to monitor the balance sheet, going forward.
We measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (interest cover). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.
ENAV has a low net debt to EBITDA ratio of only 0.19. And its EBIT easily covers its interest expense, being 49.1 times the size. So we're pretty relaxed about its super-conservative use of debt. ENAV's EBIT was pretty flat over the last year, but that shouldn't be an issue given the it doesn't have a lot of debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if ENAV can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.