Week 5a - Financial Ratios: Solvency and Profitability Flashcards
What are the three main groups of financial ratios?
Financial strength/solvency
Profitability
Stock market (Investment)
What do financial strength/solvency ratios determine?
Is the business likely to survive? Can it pay its liabilities as they fall due?
What do profitability ratios determine?
Is the business sufficiently profitable? Is it making the best use of the resources available to it?
What do stock market (investment) ratios determine?
How are the company’s shares performing on the stock market? Are they likely to be a good investment?
State the different types of solvency ratios
Short term
Long term
State the different types of profitability ratios
Overall Profitability
Profitability on Sales
Utilisation of Assets (Efficiency)
What does a short term solvency ratio determine?
- Can short term liabilities be met as they fall due
- Relationship between current assets and current liabilities
What does a long term solvency ratio determine?
- Can the company service the long term loans?
- Capital gearing
- Interest cover
Give the formula for the current ratio
Current ratio = current assets/current liabilities
What does the current ratio indicate?
The extent to which short-term assets are available to meet short-term liabilities
Why is the underlying trend from a current ratio important?
If the ratio is worsening over time, and especially if it falls to less than 1:1, one would look closely at the cash flow
How come some companies can operate on a tight current ratio?
They can plan the timing of cash inflows and outflows quite precisely
Calculate the current ratio given the following information:
Current assets = £19,000
Current liabilities = £10,000
Current ratio = current assets/current liabilities
= 19,000/10,000 = 1.9
Calculate the current ratio given the following information:
Current assets = £22,000
Current liabilities = £17,000
Current ratio = current assets/current liabilities
= 22,000/17,000 = 1.29
Give the formula for the quick ratio (acid test)
Quick ratio = (Current assets-Inventories)/Current Liabilities
Why are inventories excluded from the quick ratio?
In a crisis, where short-term creditors are demanding payment, the possibility of selling stocks (inventories) to raise cash may be unrealistic (as inventories are less liquid than other current assets.)
Why, for many companies, is the quick ratio less than 1:1?
As it is unlikely that all creditors will require payment at the same time
Calculate the current ratio given the following information:
Current assets = £19,000
Current liabilities = £10,000
Inventories = £6,000
Quick ratio = (Current assets-Inventories)/Current Liabilities
= (19,000-6,000)/10,000 = 1.3
Calculate the current ratio given the following information:
Current assets = £22,000
Current liabilities = £17,000
Inventories = £5,000
Quick ratio = (Current assets-Inventories)/Current Liabilities
= (22,000-5,000)/17,000 = 1
What is financial structure/gearing?
- The way the business is financed
- The balance between equity and debt
What ratios measure financial structure/gearing?
Capital gearing ratio
Interest cover ratio
Give the formula for capital gearing ratio
Gearing ratio = LT borrowings / (LT borrowings + Equity)
What does a low gearing ratio indicate?
- A low exposure to financial risk
- Little difficulty in paying loan interest and repaying the loans as they fall due
What does a high gearing ratio indicate?
- A high exposure to financial risk
- There are interest charges to be met and a requirement to repay the loans on the due date
Calculate the gearing ratio given the following information:
Total equity = £40,500
Long term borrowings = £20,000
Gearing ratio = LT borrowings / (LT borrowings + Equity)
= 20,000/(40,500+20,000) = 0.331 = 33.1%
Calculate the gearing ratio given the following information:
Total equity = £29,500
Long term borrowings = £15,000
Gearing ratio = LT borrowings / (LT borrowings + Equity)
= 15,000/(29,500+15,000) = 0.337 = 33.7%
Give the formula for interest cover ratio
Interest cover = Operating profit/interest
Give the formula for operating profit
Operating profit = Gross profit - operating costs for distribution and administration
What does the interest cover ratio indicate?
Whether the profit generated before interest and tax is sufficient to give high cover for the interest charges
What does a low interest cover ratio indicate?
If the interest cover is falling or low, there may be increasing cause for concern
Calculate the interest cover ratio given the following information:
Finance costs = -£1,000
Profit before tax = £8,500
Interest cover = Operating profit/interest
= (8,500 + 1,000)/1,000 = 9.5
Calculate the interest cover ratio given the following information:
Finance costs = -£1,000
Profit before tax = £9,000
Interest cover = Operating profit/interest
= (9,000 + 1,000)/1,000 = 10
Outline the effect of financial gearing
- The movement in the larger cog (operating profit) causes a more than proportionate movement in the smaller cog (returns to ordinary shareholders)
- In other words, returns to shareholders
become more sensitive to changes in operating profits - Diagram available on page 23 week 5 notes
What is an ungeared company?
Debt-equity ratio = 0
What is a geared company?
Debt-equity ratio > 0