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Is Savills (LON:SVS) Using Too Much Debt?

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.' When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. As with many other companies Savills plc (LON:SVS) makes use of debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

When Is Debt A Problem?

Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for Savills

What Is Savills's Net Debt?

As you can see below, at the end of June 2021, Savills had UK£374.8m of debt, up from UK£226.2m a year ago. Click the image for more detail. However, its balance sheet shows it holds UK£481.5m in cash, so it actually has UK£106.7m net cash.

debt-equity-history-analysis
debt-equity-history-analysis

How Healthy Is Savills' Balance Sheet?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Savills had liabilities of UK£821.2m due within 12 months, and liabilities of UK£437.2m due beyond 12 months. Offsetting this, it had UK£481.5m in cash and UK£456.0m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total UK£320.9m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

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Since publicly traded Savills shares are worth a total of UK£1.90b, it seems unlikely that this level of liabilities would be a major threat. Having said that, it's clear that we should continue to monitor its balance sheet, lest it change for the worse. Despite its noteworthy liabilities, Savills boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!

The good news is that Savills has increased its EBIT by 3.4% over twelve months, which should ease any concerns about debt repayment. 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 Savills can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you're focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. While Savills has net cash on its balance sheet, it's still worth taking a look at its ability to convert earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, to help us understand how quickly it is building (or eroding) that cash balance. Over the last three years, Savills actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. There's nothing better than incoming cash when it comes to staying in your lenders' good graces.

Summing up

While Savills does have more liabilities than liquid assets, it also has net cash of UK£106.7m. And it impressed us with free cash flow of UK£256m, being 129% of its EBIT. So is Savills's debt a risk? It doesn't seem so to us. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Savills .

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.

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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