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Is Mukta Arts (NSE:MUKTAARTS) A Risky Investment?

Legendary fund manager Li Lu (who Charlie Munger backed) once said, '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. We note that Mukta Arts Limited (NSE:MUKTAARTS) does have debt on its balance sheet. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

When Is Debt Dangerous?

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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. 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. Of course, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. 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 Mukta Arts

How Much Debt Does Mukta Arts Carry?

As you can see below, Mukta Arts had ₹798.7m of debt, at March 2019, which is about the same the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. However, it does have ₹80.5m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about ₹718.2m.

NSEI:MUKTAARTS Historical Debt, October 21st 2019
NSEI:MUKTAARTS Historical Debt, October 21st 2019

How Strong Is Mukta Arts's Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Mukta Arts had liabilities of ₹973.5m falling due within a year, and liabilities of ₹811.5m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had ₹80.5m in cash and ₹358.8m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total ₹1.35b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

This deficit casts a shadow over the ₹893.2m company, like a colossus towering over mere mortals. So we definitely think shareholders need to watch this one closely. At the end of the day, Mukta Arts would probably need a major re-capitalization if its creditors were to demand repayment.

In order to size up a company's debt relative to its earnings, we calculate its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) divided by its interest expense (its interest cover). The advantage of this approach is that we take into account both the absolute quantum of debt (with net debt to EBITDA) and the actual interest expenses associated with that debt (with its interest cover ratio).

While we wouldn't worry about Mukta Arts's net debt to EBITDA ratio of 3.8, we think its super-low interest cover of 0.84 times is a sign of high leverage. In large part that's due to the company's significant depreciation and amortisation charges, which arguably mean its EBITDA is a very generous measure of earnings, and its debt may be more of a burden than it first appears. It seems clear that the cost of borrowing money is negatively impacting returns for shareholders, of late. One redeeming factor for Mukta Arts is that it turned last year's EBIT loss into a gain of ₹75m, over the last twelve months. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But it is Mukta Arts's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. 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, Mukta Arts actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. That sort of strong cash conversion gets us as excited as the crowd when the beat drops at a Daft Punk concert.

Our View

To be frank both Mukta Arts's level of total liabilities and its track record of covering its interest expense with its EBIT make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. But at least it's pretty decent at converting EBIT to free cash flow; that's encouraging. Looking at the bigger picture, it seems clear to us that Mukta Arts's use of debt is creating risks for the company. If everything goes well that may pay off but the downside of this debt is a greater risk of permanent losses. Another positive for shareholders is that it pays dividends. So if you like receiving those dividend payments, check Mukta Arts's dividend history, without delay!

If, after all that, you're more interested in a fast growing company with a rock-solid balance sheet, then check out our list of net cash growth stocks without delay.

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.

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