Tag: Return on Capital

Halma and Return on Capital

Yesterday I talked about Diploma (DPLM) and their calculation of adjusted return on capital. This morning Halma (HLMA) published their half year results and they also have a strong emphasis on return on capital, but in this case they call it “ROTIC” (Return On Total Invested Capital). This was down slightly at 13.4% and they define it as Adjusted Profit After Tax divided by Total Invested Capital. The latter is shareholders funds, plus retirement benefit obligations, less deferred tax assets, plus cumulative amortisation of acquired intangible assets plus historic adjustments to goodwill. This similar to the Diploma definition but it is not clear whether it is exactly the same and they call it something different.

As almost every company now reports “adjusted” figures of one kind or another, and analyst forecasts of earning are also usually based on adjusted profits, would it not make sense to have some standard for such data? That’s in addition to the current “statutory” figures which are mandated by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

Some of these adjustments, like the ones above in the case of Halma to calculate return on capital make a lot of sense if you wish to obtain a somewhat different view of a company’s performance. But some do not – for example I commented negatively only recently on the figures reported by National Grid.

The FRC would be the best body to set such standards, although they appear to have avoided doing so in the past. Now it just so happens I am attending a meeting with the FRC organised by ShareSoc/UKSA later today and if I get the opportunity I will raise this issue. It would certainly help investors if companies, financial analysts and information web sites reported such adjusted data in a consistent manner, would it not?

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )

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Diploma (DPLM) and Return on Capital

Diploma Plc, a supplier of specialist technical products, issued its preliminary results for the year to the end of September today (20/11/2017). This company may not be a household name and hence can fall under the radar of investors. But it has demonstrated a consistent track record in recent years. Today was no exception. Adjusted earning per share were up 19%, and revenue was up 18%, although a significant proportion of the improvement was down to currency movements (they are a very international business and the falling pound has no doubt helped). The share price has risen 10% on the day at the time of writing.

But why do I like this company? Apart from the track record, the directors have a strong focus on obtaining a good return on capital both from their on-going businesses and from acquisitions. But which measure do they use (Return on Equity – ROE, Return on Assets – ROA, or Return on Capital Employed – ROCE. These are all useful measures, and you can no doubt look up their definitions on the internet. But they use none of the above. They actually report “Return on Adjusted Trading Capital” – ROATCE. This they report as improved to 24% (their target is to exceed 20% which they have beaten in the last five years – that’s certainly the kind of figure I like to see).

How do they calculate this figure? I quote from the announcement: “A key metric that the Group uses to measure the overall profitability of the Group and its success in creating value for shareholders is the return on adjusted trading capital employed (“ROATCE”). At a Group level, this is a pre-tax measure which is applied against the fixed and working capital of the Group, together with all gross intangible assets and goodwill, including goodwill previously written off against retained earnings.”

Personally, I don’t think one measure of return on capital is particularly better than another. Return on Assets is good enough for me although it certainly helps that the company has added back write-offs of goodwill from past acquisitions to save one working it out for oneself. For a company that does repeated acquisitions, these “disappearing” assets are worth bearing in mind. Return on Equity might be considered by some as the most important for equity investors, but using that as a target by management can result in risky behaviour such as gearing up with debt. Bank directors were often keen to talk about that number before the 2008 crash.

Why is return on capital so important? Because when one invests in a company, you are investing in the expectation of a future return. How much they can generate in returns from the assets under their management is a key measure (that’s ignoring the profits from investment from getting a greater fool to buy your shares in a game of “pass the parcel”). I learned this was the best measure of the quality and performance of a company when I went to business school, and I never forgot it when I ran a business. In the modern world, it can be easy to borrow capital and blow it on expansive plans. This can help the management increase their salaries. But for equity investors, it dilutes your returns and you lose the benefit of compounding the retained profits.

The best, and shortest book, that explains this in layman’s terms is Joel Greenblatt’s “The Little Book That Beats The Market”. He uses return on capital (as he defines it) in a calculation of a “Magic Formula” for success. But of course using a simplistic formula has its dangers. If everyone followed it, prices might be driven up to unreasonable levels on the stocks chosen by such a formula. In addition I just looked at the stock list that Stockopedia suggests would be “buys” using the Magic Formula. It results in a mixed bag of shares. For example, it includes Safestyle which I also own when that company’s share price has been falling of late due to concerns about the retail market for large general merchandise items (they sell replacement windows). It might be a “BUY” now but it could also be a share where you could wait a long time for it to return to favour. So the moral is, use return on capital as one measure of the merit of a company, but look at other factors also. In addition, bear in mind that sometimes the market can favour other companies, such as those with little profits in a go-go bull market, or those with massive, if underutilised, assets in a gloomy bear market. So the Magic Formula is best applied to a basket of shares and you might need patience over some years to see the benefits realised.

Lastly, financial numbers do not tell you everything about a company. The historic numbers can be inflated by clever, or false accounting. And they can ignore major strategic or regulatory challenges that a company faces that might not be reflected in historic numbers.

But a company whose return on capital is low is certainly one I like to avoid. It is also helpful when the management talk about return on capital as having importance in their business strategy, and Diploma certainly do that. I consider that a positive sign because if they stick to it, then it should ensure the overall financial profile of the company remains positive and that profits will grow.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )

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Lloyds Case Impressions, Ideagen AGM and Return on Capital

Yesterday I attended the Annual General Meeting of Ideagen (IDEA) at 12.00 noon in the City of London – see below – and afterwards spent an hour in the High Court listening to one of the witnesses being cross-examined in the Lloyds Banking Group case. What follows is just an impression of the scene because the whole case is running for months so in no way can this be considered a comprehensive report. I have covered some more details of the case in previous articles, but to remind you the litigants are suing Lloyds and the former directors of the company over the takeover of HBOS which they declare was contrary to their interests as shareholders in Lloyds TSB. Lloyds deny liability.

The case is being heard in the Rolls Building in New Fetter Lane – a modern building very different to the ultra Victorian main Courts of Justice building in the Strand. See this link for a video tour of the building: https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/high-court/the-rolls-building/virtual-tour/

The witness being cross-examined on the day was Tim Tookey, the former Finance Director of Lloyds TSB. Richard Hill QC was undertaking the task for the litigants under the eyes of a single judge, Mr Justice Norris (sans wig). It was a pretty impressive scene with at least 6 barristers in wigs and gowns plus about another 10 supporting legal staff. Why do barristers still wear wigs? To quote from the web: “The courts didn’t officially add wigs to the legal dress code until the 18th century when they became culturally chic. … They continue to wear them because nobody has ever told them to stop”.

It was a pretty impressive scene, somewhat lost on the few members of the public present – half a dozen litigants and members of the press. But the court was digitally up to date with every desk holding a screen on which the written evidence was displayed as it was invoked. However the witness being cross examined still referred to a paper copy, extracted from 150 large A4 binders stored in shelves on the left hand side of the court – filling almost the whole wall.

Mr Tookey gave his responses to questions firmly and without emotion. A confident witness giving clear answers. He was questioned about the events leading up to the announcement of the acquisition of HBOS and over how much capital Lloyds anticipated would be required to ensure the deal was “bullet-proof” (i.e. not creating unacceptable risks if the economic circumstances worsened). He was questioned about the extent the risks had been considered and whether enough due diligence on HBOS had been done before the decision was taken to proceed. Apparently it came down to a decision at 4.00 am on a Monday morning to proceed. They we being forced to decide to proceed or not by the Government before the markets opened on Monday. But he said that he thought all the risks had been considered and the board was supportive of the deal because of the strategic advantages of the HBOS takeover in the longer term. Recapitalisation involving the Government was necessary because there was no way it was possible to raise even £3 billion (underwritten) by the Monday, which was the minimum requirement. Government involvement “de-risked” the deal. The case continues….. for another dozen weeks.

One can see from the above exactly why the costs of such cases are so enormous.

Ideagen AGM

Ideagen (IDEA) is a software company in the Governance, Risk and Compliance sector. I have held the shares for some years when it has grown revenue and profits considerably, both from acquisitions and organic growth. They have a strong emphasis on the importance of recurring revenue. They are presenting at the ShareSoc Seminar on the 8th November, although that event is fully booked I understand.

There were fewer sharesholders at the Ideagen AGM than members of the public at the Lloyds hearing, but that’s not exceptional for small companies. But it was still a useful event – a brief report follows.

One question I raised was about return on capital. Now you might think this was prompted by an interesting article on that subject by Leon Boros in the latest ShareSoc Newsletter, but I did not get around to reading that until later in the day so it’s somewhat of a coincidence. Leon compared the return on capital at Bioventix (one of his favourite stocks which he likes to talk about regularly), and YouGov. He pointed out that not only are measures such as Return on Equity (ROE), Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and Return on Assets (ROA) better at Bioventix calculated on the headline numbers, but that those for YouGov are somewhat doubtful because they capitalise and amortise the cost of recruitment of their survey panels. Plus they capitalise and amortise software development costs. But they then produce adjusted earnings figures that excluded the amortisation of both those costs, effectively pretending they are not real costs. He has a point.

Now I always look at returns on capital when I am investing in new companies because I consider it one of the most important measures of a company’s performance – as I told the directors of Ideagen. Hence at the Ideagen AGM I asked a question on that subject. On page 18 of their Annual Report they give the “Key Performance Indicators”, 9 of them, that the directors use to monitor the performance of the company. They all look good, but none of them measure return on capital. Should they not include a return on capital measure?

In reality the headline figures for ROE, ROCE and ROA reported by Stockopedia for Ideagen are all less than 2%, and that ignores even the large number of shares under option that the company has that would dilute the earnings. The reason for this is partly the fact that the profit measures used are “unadjusted” and as the company has very substantial amortisation of goodwill from past acquisations, and £1.2 million of share-based payment charges, these distort the numbers. The CEO David Hornsby, responded with “what measure would I like to use?” to which I responded that I did not mind so long as it was consistent from year-to-year. Companies often publish such figures, which are frequently based on “adjusted” profits. I also suggested cash return on assets might be a good measure, something I also look at.

The company actually generated Net Cash From Operating Activities of £8.3m last year which on Net Assets of £30m at the start of the year is very respectable, although technically one should probably write back the cost of past acquisitions that have been written off. In addition some of the cash generated was spent on contingent consideration on past acquistions and on “development costs” which they class as “investing activities”. This demonstrates that for some businesses, looking at headline return on capital figures or those reported by financial web sites can be misleading. One needs to look at the detail to get a real understanding on what is going on in such a business.

A short debate on the issue followed. Otherwise after a couple of other questions, the CEO mentioned the half year for the company ends today, and shareholders should be very pleased with the results.

In summary, a short AGM meeting, but a useful one. And the ShareSoc newsletter is well worth reading – it even includes some articles from me.

Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )

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