If you're looking at a mature business that's past the growth phase, what are some of the underlying trends that pop up? When we see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) in conjunction with a declining base of capital employed, that's often how a mature business shows signs of aging. This combination can tell you that not only is the company investing less, it's earning less on what it does invest. So after we looked into Sichuan Golden Summit (group) (SHSE:600678), the trends above didn't look too great.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. To calculate this metric for Sichuan Golden Summit (group), this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.047 = CN¥26m ÷ (CN¥799m - CN¥254m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Thus, Sichuan Golden Summit (group) has an ROCE of 4.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Basic Materials industry average of 6.1%.

View our latest analysis for Sichuan Golden Summit (group)

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Sichuan Golden Summit (group) has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

The Trend Of ROCE

In terms of Sichuan Golden Summit (group)'s historical ROCE movements, the trend doesn't inspire confidence. About five years ago, returns on capital were 9.3%, however they're now substantially lower than that as we saw above. On top of that, it's worth noting that the amount of capital employed within the business has remained relatively steady. This combination can be indicative of a mature business that still has areas to deploy capital, but the returns received aren't as high due potentially to new competition or smaller margins. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect Sichuan Golden Summit (group) to turn into a multi-bagger.

While on the subject, we noticed that the ratio of current liabilities to total assets has risen to 32%, which has impacted the ROCE. Without this increase, it's likely that ROCE would be even lower than 4.7%. Keep an eye on this ratio, because the business could encounter some new risks if this metric gets too high.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, it's unfortunate that Sichuan Golden Summit (group) is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. Despite the concerning underlying trends, the stock has actually gained 9.5% over the last five years, so it might be that the investors are expecting the trends to reverse. Either way, we aren't huge fans of the current trends and so with that we think you might find better investments elsewhere.

If you'd like to know more about Sichuan Golden Summit (group), we've spotted 4 warning signs, and 3 of them are concerning.

While Sichuan Golden Summit (group) isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.