These 4 Measures Indicate That Touchstar (LON:TST) Is Using Debt Reasonably Well

Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. We note that Touchstar plc (LON:TST) does have debt on its balance sheet. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

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. 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, 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 Touchstar

What Is Touchstar's Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at June 2021 Touchstar had debt of UK£1.18m, up from UK£1.10m in one year. However, its balance sheet shows it holds UK£2.48m in cash, so it actually has UK£1.30m net cash.

How Strong Is Touchstar's Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Touchstar had liabilities of UK£3.51m falling due within a year, and liabilities of UK£840.0k due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had UK£2.48m in cash and UK£1.25m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling UK£613.0k more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

Given Touchstar has a market capitalization of UK£7.20m, it's hard to believe these liabilities pose much threat. But there are sufficient liabilities that we would certainly recommend shareholders continue to monitor the balance sheet, going forward. While it does have liabilities worth noting, Touchstar also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely.

Although Touchstar made a loss at the EBIT level, last year, it was also good to see that it generated UK£96k in EBIT over the last twelve months. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Touchstar's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. 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. While Touchstar 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 year, Touchstar 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.

Summing up

While it is always sensible to look at a company's total liabilities, it is very reassuring that Touchstar has UK£1.30m in net cash. And it impressed us with free cash flow of UK£171k, being 178% of its EBIT. So we don't think Touchstar's use of debt is risky. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Touchstar (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.

Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today.

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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