Yahoo Finance Here's Why We're Not At All Concerned With ReNeuron Group's (LON:RENE) Cash Burn Situation
We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, although software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse.
So should ReNeuron Group (LON:RENE) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.
Check out our latest analysis for ReNeuron Group
How Long Is ReNeuron Group's Cash Runway?
A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. When ReNeuron Group last reported its balance sheet in March 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth UK£22m. Importantly, its cash burn was UK£6.1m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of about 3.7 years from March 2021. A runway of this length affords the company the time and space it needs to develop the business. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.
How Is ReNeuron Group's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
In the last year, ReNeuron Group did book revenue of UK£257k, but its revenue from operations was less, at just UK£257k. We don't think that's enough operating revenue for us to understand too much from revenue growth rates, since the company is growing off a low base. So we'll focus on the cash burn, today. The 58% reduction in its cash burn over the last twelve months may be good for protecting the balance sheet but it hardly points to imminent growth. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.
Can ReNeuron Group Raise More Cash Easily?
While we're comforted by the recent reduction evident from our analysis of ReNeuron Group's cash burn, it is still worth considering how easily the company could raise more funds, if it wanted to accelerate spending to drive growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn.
Since it has a market capitalisation of UK£65m, ReNeuron Group's UK£6.1m in cash burn equates to about 9.4% of its market value. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.
Is ReNeuron Group's Cash Burn A Worry?
As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about ReNeuron Group's cash burn. In particular, we think its cash runway stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. And even its cash burn relative to its market cap was very encouraging. Looking at all the measures in this article, together, we're not worried about its rate of cash burn; the company seems well on top of its medium-term spending needs. On another note, ReNeuron Group has 4 warning signs (and 2 which are significant) we think you should know about.
Of course ReNeuron Group may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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