Ignoring the stock price of a company, what are the underlying trends that tell us a business is past the growth phase? A business that's potentially in decline often shows two trends, a return on capital employed (ROCE) that's declining, and a base of capital employed that's also declining. This indicates the company is producing less profit from its investments and its total assets are decreasing. And from a first read, things don't look too good at Sun Art Retail Group (HKG:6808), so let's see why.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Sun Art Retail Group, this is the formula:

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

0.016 = CN¥476m ÷ (CN¥65b - CN¥36b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Thus, Sun Art Retail Group has an ROCE of 1.6%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Consumer Retailing industry average of 9.6%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Sun Art Retail Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Sun Art Retail Group here for free.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Sun Art Retail Group Tell Us?

In terms of Sun Art Retail Group's historical ROCE movements, the trend doesn't inspire confidence. About five years ago, returns on capital were 13%, however they're now substantially lower than that as we saw above. And on the capital employed front, the business is utilizing roughly the same amount of capital as it was back then. 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 Sun Art Retail Group to turn into a multi-bagger.

Another thing to note, Sun Art Retail Group has a high ratio of current liabilities to total assets of 54%. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.

The Key Takeaway

In the end, the trend of lower returns on the same amount of capital isn't typically an indication that we're looking at a growth stock. Unsurprisingly then, the stock has dived 86% over the last five years, so investors are recognizing these changes and don't like the company's prospects. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing Sun Art Retail Group, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

While Sun Art Retail Group may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.