Does NITCO (NSE:NITCO) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?
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.' When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. As with many other companies NITCO Limited (NSE:NITCO) makes use of debt. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.
When Is Debt A Problem?
Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.
What Is NITCO's Net Debt?
As you can see below, NITCO had ₹3.01b of debt at September 2025, down from ₹9.33b a year prior. However, because it has a cash reserve of ₹594.4m, its net debt is less, at about ₹2.42b.
A Look At NITCO's Liabilities
The latest balance sheet data shows that NITCO had liabilities of ₹4.04b due within a year, and liabilities of ₹2.81b falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had ₹594.4m in cash and ₹1.92b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by ₹4.33b.
NITCO has a market capitalization of ₹20.8b, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. However, it is still worthwhile taking a close look at its ability to pay off debt.
Check out our latest analysis for NITCO
We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.
Given net debt is only 0.79 times EBITDA, it is initially surprising to see that NITCO's EBIT has low interest coverage of 2.0 times. So one way or the other, it's clear the debt levels are not trivial. Notably, NITCO made a loss at the EBIT level, last year, but improved that to positive EBIT of ₹410m in the last twelve months. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since NITCO 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.
Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. So it is important to check how much of its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) converts to actual free cash flow. During the last year, NITCO burned a lot of cash. While that may be a result of expenditure for growth, it does make the debt far more risky.
Our View
Both NITCO's conversion of EBIT to free cash flow and its interest cover were discouraging. But on the brighter side of life, its net debt to EBITDA leaves us feeling more frolicsome. Taking the abovementioned factors together we do think NITCO's debt poses some risks to the business. While that debt can boost returns, we think the company has enough leverage now. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for NITCO 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.