Here's Why Mimi's Rock (CVE:MIMI) Has A Meaningful Debt Burden
The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital. It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. As with many other companies Mimi's Rock Corp. (CVE:MIMI) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
When Is Debt Dangerous?
Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. 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, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.
View our latest analysis for Mimi's Rock
What Is Mimi's Rock's Net Debt?
You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that as of December 2018 Mimi's Rock had CA$15.5m of debt, an increase on none, over one year. However, because it has a cash reserve of CA$5.40m, its net debt is less, at about CA$10.1m.
A Look At Mimi's Rock's Liabilities
We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Mimi's Rock had liabilities of CA$6.06m falling due within a year, and liabilities of CA$15.8m due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of CA$5.40m and CA$617.0k worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by CA$15.8m.
This deficit is considerable relative to its market capitalization of CA$21.1m, so it does suggest shareholders should keep an eye on Mimi's Rock's use of debt. Should its lenders demand that it shore up the balance sheet, shareholders would likely face severe dilution.
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). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.
While Mimi's Rock's debt to EBITDA ratio (4.6) suggests that it uses some debt, its interest cover is very weak, at 2.4, suggesting high leverage. So shareholders should probably be aware that interest expenses appear to have really impacted the business lately. One redeeming factor for Mimi's Rock is that it turned last year's EBIT loss into a gain of CA$2.2m, over the last twelve months. 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 Mimi's Rock 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.
Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. So it's worth checking how much of the earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) is backed by free cash flow. Over the last year, Mimi's Rock recorded negative free cash flow, in total. Debt is far more risky for companies with unreliable free cash flow, so shareholders should be hoping that the past expenditure will produce free cash flow in the future.
Our View
On the face of it, Mimi's Rock's interest cover left us tentative about the stock, and its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow was no more enticing than the one empty restaurant on the busiest night of the year. But at least its EBIT growth rate is not so bad. We're quite clear that we consider Mimi's Rock to be really rather risky, as a result of its balance sheet health. So we're almost as wary of this stock as a hungry kitten is about falling into its owner's fish pond: once bitten, twice shy, as they say. While Mimi's Rock didn't make a statutory profit in the last year, its positive EBIT suggests that profitability might not be far away.Click here to see if its earnings are heading in the right direction, over the medium term.
At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
