Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd
Ratios
Working-Capital Days
Number of daysDebtor DaysInventory DaysDays Payable
How to read this: these lines track how the company manages day-to-day cash. Debtor days is how long customers take to pay; inventory days is how long stock sits before selling; days payable is how long the company takes to pay its own suppliers. Fewer debtor and inventory days generally means cash comes in faster; more days payable means the company holds its cash longer. The right level varies a lot by industry, so the trend over time matters more than any single number.
Return on Capital Employed
ROCE, in %How to read this: return on capital employed (ROCE) shows how much operating profit the company earns from every unit of capital it uses, as a percentage. A higher, steady line over the years suggests the business uses its capital efficiently. As with most ratios, the multi-year trend tells you more than any single year.
| Period | Debtor Days | Inventory Days | Days Payable | Cash Conversion Cycle | Working Capital Days | ROCE % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2015 | 53 | 48 | 44 | 56 | 23 | 20 |
| FY2016 | 53 | 77 | 144 | -14 | -24 | 20 |
| FY2017 | 60 | 51 | 104 | 8 | 30 | 18 |
| FY2018 | 57 | 46 | 108 | -4 | 39 | 17 |
| FY2019 | 57 | 47 | 96 | 8 | 44 | 16 |
| FY2020 | 65 | 57 | 88 | 35 | 49 | 11 |
| FY2021 | 69 | 59 | 100 | 28 | 30 | 8 |
| FY2022 | 56 | 51 | 69 | 38 | 49 | 8 |
| FY2023 | 57 | 46 | 68 | 35 | 39 | 10 |
| FY2024 | 67 | 66 | 108 | 25 | 39 | 16 |
| FY2025 | 70 | 67 | 104 | 33 | 62 | 15 |
| FY2026 | 72 | 57 | 118 | 12 | 59 | 15 |
Understanding these terms
Plain-English explanations of each figure in the table above, and what a beginner typically looks at. These are educational descriptions only, not advice.
- Debtor Days
- The average number of days the company takes to collect payment from its customers after a sale.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads fewer days as cash coming in faster. A rising trend can mean customers are taking longer to pay, which ties up cash; readers compare it to the company's own past and to peers.
- Inventory Days
- The average number of days goods sit as inventory before being sold.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads lower inventory days as stock moving quickly. A rising trend can signal slowing sales or overstocking; the right level varies a lot by industry, so comparison matters.
- Days Payable
- The average number of days the company takes to pay its own suppliers.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads more days as the company holding onto cash longer — useful, within reason. Reading it next to debtor days shows whether the company collects from customers faster than it pays suppliers.
- Cash Conversion Cycle
- The number of days it takes to turn money spent on inventory back into cash from customers: inventory days plus debtor days minus days payable.How a beginner reads it: A beginner reads a shorter cycle as cash being tied up for less time. A negative cycle — paying suppliers after collecting from customers — is generally a sign of strong working-capital efficiency.
- Working Capital Days
- How many days of sales are tied up in the day-to-day running of the business (receivables and inventory, net of payables).How a beginner reads it: A beginner watches the trend: fewer days means less cash locked into operations. A steadily rising figure can mean growth is consuming more and more cash to sustain.
- ROCE %
- Return on Capital Employed — operating profit as a percentage of the total capital (equity plus debt) the business uses. It measures how efficiently the company turns all its capital into operating profit.How a beginner reads it: A beginner uses ROCE to judge how well a company uses every rupee of capital, regardless of how it is financed. Consistency over many years often matters more to readers than a single high year.