Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that '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. As with many other companies CECEP Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300140) makes use of debt. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. 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. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

View our latest analysis for CECEP Environmental Protection

What Is CECEP Environmental Protection's Net Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at September 2023 CECEP Environmental Protection had debt of CN¥9.97b, up from CN¥361.4m in one year. However, it does have CN¥1.88b in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about CN¥8.09b.

A Look At CECEP Environmental Protection's Liabilities

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that CECEP Environmental Protection had liabilities of CN¥7.10b falling due within a year, and liabilities of CN¥13.2b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of CN¥1.88b and CN¥5.11b worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by CN¥13.3b.

This is a mountain of leverage relative to its market capitalization of CN¥19.2b. Should its lenders demand that it shore up the balance sheet, shareholders would likely face severe dilution. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since CECEP Environmental Protection will need earnings to service that debt. So if you're keen to discover more about its earnings, it might be worth checking out this graph of its long term earnings trend.

In the last year CECEP Environmental Protection had a loss before interest and tax, and actually shrunk its revenue by 83%, to CN¥882m. That makes us nervous, to say the least.

Caveat Emptor

Not only did CECEP Environmental Protection's revenue slip over the last twelve months, but it also produced negative earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). To be specific the EBIT loss came in at CN¥60m. When we look at that and recall the liabilities on its balance sheet, relative to cash, it seems unwise to us for the company to have any debt. So we think its balance sheet is a little strained, though not beyond repair. For example, we would not want to see a repeat of last year's loss of CN¥71m. So we do think this stock is quite risky. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for CECEP Environmental Protection that you should be aware of before investing here.

At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.

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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.