When we're researching a company, it's sometimes hard to find the warning signs, but there are some financial metrics that can help spot trouble early. Businesses in decline often have two underlying trends, firstly, a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining base of capital employed. This indicates the company is producing less profit from its investments and its total assets are decreasing. So after glancing at the trends within China Film (SHSE:600977), we weren't too hopeful.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for China Film:

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

0.0099 = CN¥135m ÷ (CN¥20b - CN¥6.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, China Film has an ROCE of 1.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Entertainment industry average of 4.4%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for China Film compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for China Film .

The Trend Of ROCE

We are a bit worried about the trend of returns on capital at China Film. About five years ago, returns on capital were 9.4%, 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 China Film to turn into a multi-bagger.

What We Can Learn From China Film's ROCE

In summary, it's unfortunate that China Film is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. Long term shareholders who've owned the stock over the last five years have experienced a 23% depreciation in their investment, so it appears the market might not like these trends either. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

If you want to continue researching China Film, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

While China Film 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.