return on capital employed

Think of return on capital employed (ROCE) as the Clark Kent of financial ratios. Most investors don’t take a second look at a company’s ROCE, but savvy investors know that, like Kent’s alter ego, ROCE has a lot of muscle. In fact, ROCE can help investors see through growth forecasts, and it can often serve as a reliable measure of corporate performance. In this article we'll reveal the true nature of ROCE and how to calculate and analyze it. Read on to find out how this often overlooked ratio can be a superhero when it comes to calculating the efficiency and profitability of a company's capital investments.   

Defining ROCE
Put simply, ROCE reflects a company’s ability to earn a return on all of the capital that the company employs. ROCE is calculated by determining what percentage of a company's utilized capital it made in pre-tax profits, before borrowing costs. To calculate ROCE, you determine what percentage of a company's invested capital it made in pre-tax profit before borrowing costs. The ratio looks like this:

=        Profit Before Interest and Taxation  
Capital Employed

The numerator, or the return, includes the profit before tax, exceptional items, interest and dividends payable. These items are located on the income statement. The denominator, the capital employed, is the sum of all ordinary and preferred-share capital reserves, all debt and finance lease obligations, as well as minority interests and provisions. These items are all found on the balance sheet. The denominator shows how much capital is being employed in the operation of the business. 

What Does ROCE Say?
For starters, ROCE is a useful measurement for comparing the relative profitability of companies. But ROCE is also an efficiency measure of sorts; ROCE doesn’t just gauge profitability as profit margin ratios do, it measures profitability after factoring in the amount of capital used. To understand the significance of factoring in employed capital, let’s look at an example. Say Company A makes a profit of $100 on sales of $1,000, and Company B makes $150 on $1,000 of sales. In terms of pure profitability, B, having a 15% profit margin, is far ahead of A, which has a 10% margin. However, let’s say A employs $500 of capital and B $1,000. A has an ROCE of 20% [100/500] while B has an ROCE of only 15% [150/1,000]. The ROCE measurements show us that Company A makes better use of its capital. In other words, it is able to squeeze more earnings out of every dollar of capital it employs. A high ROCE indicates that a larger chunk of profits can be invested back into the company for the benefit of shareholders. The reinvested capital is employed again at a higher rate of return, which helps to produce higher earnings-per-share growth. A high ROCE is, therefore, a sign of a successful growth company.

ROCE in Relation to the Cost of Borrowing
A company’s ROCE should always be compared to the current cost of borrowing. If an investor puts $100 into a bank for a year at 5% interest, the $5 received in interest represents a reasonable return on the capital. To justify putting the $100 into a business instead, the investor must expect a return that is significantly higher than 5%. To deliver a higher return, a public company must raise more money in a cost effective way, which puts it into a good position to see its share price increase; ROCE measures a company's ability to do this. There are no firm benchmarks, but as a very general rule of thumb, ROCE should be at least double the interest rates. An ROCE any lower than this suggests that a company is making poor use of its capital resources.  

Some Guidelines for Analyzing ROCE
Consistency is a key factor of performance. In other words, investors should resist investing on the basis of only one year’s ROCE. Take a look at how ROCE behaves over several years and follow the trend closely. A company that, year after year, earns a higher return on every dollar invested in the business is bound to have a higher market valuation than a company that burns up capital to generate profits. Be on the lookout for sudden changes; a decline in ROCE could signal the loss of competitive advantage.

Because ROCE measures profitability in relation to invested capital, ROCE is important for capital-intensive companies, or firms that require large upfront investments to start producing goods. Examples of capital-intensive companies are those in telecommunications, power utilities and heavy industries. ROCE has emerged as the undisputed measure of profitability for oil and gas companies, which also operate in a capital-intensive industry. In fact, there is often a strong correlation between ROCE and an oil company's share price performance.  

 

Things to be Aware Of
While ROCE is a good measure of profitability, it may not provide an accurate reflection of performance for companies that have large cash reserves, which could be funds raised from a recent equity issue. Cash reserves are counted as part of capital employed even though these reserves may not yet be employed. As such, this inclusion of the cash reserves can actually overstate capital and reduce ROCE.  

Consider a firm that has turned a profit of $15 on $100 capital employed, or 15% ROCE. Of the $100 capital employed, let’s say $40 was cash it recently raised and has yet to invest into operations. If we ignore this latent cash in hand, the capital is actually around $60. The company’s ROCE, then, is a much more impressive 25%. Furthermore, there are times when ROCE may understate the amount of capital employed. Conservatism dictates that intangible assets - such as trademarks, brands and research and development  - are not counted as part of capital employed. Intangibles are too hard to value with reliability, so they are left out. Nevertheless, they still represent capital employed.  

Conclusion
Like all performance metrics, ROCE has its difficulties, but it is a powerful tool that deserves attention. Think of it as a tool for spotting companies that can squeeze a high a return out of the capital they put into their businesses. ROCE is especially important for capital-intensive companies. Top performers are the firms that deliver above-average returns over a period of several years and ROCE can help you to spot them.