Discuss about the GWR Group Limited for Australian Stock Exchange.
The company about which the report discusses is GWR Group Limited, an Australian company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. It is a well-funded resource house that is engaged mainly into iron ore and mineral based projects either in the form of various joint ventures or even via investing into other companies which are listed. It is a twelve year old company on the ASX, listed in the year 2004. Initially it ventured into exploration and extraction of gold and furthered their work into the iron-ore sector as well. As per recent records the company has entered into exploration of tungsten mineral (gwrgroup.com.au. 2016).
GWR has recently taken up an iron-ore project and faced certain challenges while working on the same but it fought those challenges bravely and with due courage. The most sought after step taken by the company is its timely action to deal with the deteriorating market scenario of the mineral sector. It is very evident from the fact that GWR had restricted its exploration costs at Wiluna West Iron-Ore Project since 2013 which clearly shows how well informed the management is of the external factors which may impact the company’s profitability statement. In Western part of the continent the company is exploring for the DSO iron –ore at its Earaheedy Iron project.
Recently GWR has entered into a Heads of Agreement with Arunta Resources Limited, an ASX listed entity. It is a joint venture wherein the company has a 50% interest in the Hatches Creek Tungsten project in the northern territory of the island. However the most highly regarded project of GWR which makes it stand out in Australia amongst the other mineral based companies is its Wiluna West Iron-Ore Project which assures to produce a very high quality iron ore containing impurities at its minimal. Apart from the above two there are various other projects taken up by the company such as West Peak Iron Ltd which is situated in Africa and concentrates on exploring iron-ore, Tungsten Mining NL wherein it provides the company management and technical help and Earaheedy Iron & manganese Project to name a few.
Lastly due to a depressed market for commodities in Australia, the company decided to form a 100% subsidiary of its named ‘RWG Minerals Pty. Ltd.’ which basically had the work of exploring for opportunities in the Western part of the island. It enabled to discover those areas of operations which are presently not held by any one and can be acquired by applying for tenements. This helped GWR to continue its development process in a depressed economic environment as well. Thus just within a decade’s time GWR has established substantial foothold in the area of exploring commodities such as iron, tungsten, manganese etc.
The financial statements connotes the position of the assets and liabilities of an entity as on a particular date. It records the summary of account balances such as that of sundry debtors, creditors, short term and long term borrowings, fixed assets etc. Therefore in simple terms it shows the equity position of an entity which is nothing but a difference between the assets and the liabilities (www.wiley.com, 2013).
The financial statement as on 30 June 2015 indicates the company’s current asset, non-current asset, current liability, non-current liability and the equity status of the company for the current as well as the previous year. Thus on reviewing the balance sheet of GWR the following data is derived:
On comparing the above data with that of the previous year the following conclusions are derived:
Thus on studying the financial position of the company, it is very evident that the company’s state of affairs is a healthy one as it is not indebted to any outside financial institution or banks for its funds. It is mainly funded by own capital. However the company has not being dividends from two years now yet the shareholders are content with the same due to its continuous expansion strategies. Further to this certain ratios will enable to analyse the position of the company in a more elaborate manner.
Ratio Analysis of Various Items of the Balance Sheet
TYPE OF RATIO 2015 2014
LIQUIDITY RATIOS
Current Ratio 30.78 47.35
Quick Ratio 30.55 47.00
SOLVENCY RATIOS
Debt to asset ratio NA NA
Debt to capital ratio NA NA
Debt to equity ratio NA NA
An ideal current ratio is that of 1, and in case of GWR the current ratio is much above that which clearly shows that the company’s assets are more than sufficient for paying off the debts of the company and at the same time the shareholder’s wealth also increases (Bajkowski, 1999). Although both the current and the quick ratio has deteriorated from 2014 to 2015 yet the same shows a very healthy state of affairs of GWR (GWR Annual Report 2015).
Dilution of the capital base is a very important issue for all entities to deal with and in the case of GWR the same is not a problem at all. Since the company does not have debt funds therefore there does not arise any question of a debt asset ratio or other solvency ratios. There is no harm to the solvency or the going concern concept of t GWR.
As per AASB 101, it is mandatory for GWR to publish a separate statement of changes in equity fund. Thus the various components of the Shareholder’s Equity presented in the annual report of GWR along with the details of the previous year’s balance is enumerated as under:
The data derived from the income statement of a company which enables to provide the investors and the owners of a company, how well it is performing as compared to the previous year’s performance is mentioned below:
PARTICULARS 2015 (in $) 2014 (in $)
Total Operating revenues 906209 884809
Cost of Goods Sold NA NA
Total Expenses (before income taxes) (5434778) (6667912)
Non-Operating gain or loss NA NA
Earnings per common share (1.89) (2.41)
The income statement per se the company seems to be a loss making entity and hence not lucrative for investment purposes. The operating income has dipped marginally by 2.42% only but the company is still running into huge losses to the extent $4528569, due to which the share value is also diminishing and is in the negative 1.89 per share in cents. Although as compared to the previous year it has performed better as the EPS has improved significantly by almost 22%. Apart from the above certain ratio analysis will enable to give us a better overview of the performance of the company (Gill, & Chatton, 2001). They are as under:
TYPE OF RATIO 2015 2014
PROFITABILITY RATIO
Net Profit Margin (4.99) (6.53)
Return on Assets (0.13) (0.14)
Return on Equity (0.13) (0.15)
From the above ratios it is clear that the company has performed well compared to the year 2014 therefore its net profit margin has also increased by 23 percent which is a very optimistic sign (Lan, 2012). Although the net profit margin of the current year is still in the negative but the amount of loss has decreased significantly. GWR has been able to utilize its assets judiciously but not with a stark difference as the return on assets is almost the same as compared with the figures of 2014, i.e. hardly an increase of 7 percent. Similarly the shareholder’s expectation from the company has also not yielded much results and the return on equity has also not shown any remarkable change. Therefore on viewing the profitability ratios of the entity, GWR does not seem to be a very lucrative company to invest in until and unless its operations are understood in detail ((Grimsley, 2003).
On studying the cash flow position of GWR the following data is extracted:
PARTICULARS 2015 2014
Net Cash flow from Operating Activities (3796226) (5346387)
Net Cash Flow from Investing Activities (110116) (291960)
Net Cash Flow from financing Activities – (425052)
Net increase / (decrease) in cash during the year (3906342) (6063399)
The cash flow statement of an entity simply shows how the company has utilized its cash and cash equivalent in conducting operating, investing as well as financing activities. Therefore this statement guides the investor to analyse whether the entity has been able to generate any cash from its operating activities so as to be able to meet its working capital requirements and whether it has the ability to pay dividends. Hence the net result of the cash from operating activities enables to understand how much liquid cash the entity has with it (Fridson, & Alvarez, 2011). Further to this cash from investing activities help us to know the type of investments the company has made and what investments are no longer a part of the balance sheet of the entity. Thus investing activities basically enables to generate cash in future by investing in fixed assets etc. Therefore a negative cash from such an activity is preferred. The next section of a cash flow statement is the cash from financing activity which entails to detail the amount spent on borrowing of funds and repaying of existing debts (Vitez, 2014).
On reviewing the cash flow statement of GWR it is very evident that the company is performing well as its operating cash flow has increased by a good 30 percent which is a huge jump for a loss making entity (Shelton, 2012). Therefore there is a clear indication that the company has been able to generate enough cash so as to sustain its day to day operations. Presently the company has not made any significant investment in fixed assets and the same has declined by 63 percent which is not a favourable sign. If the company restricts investment in revenue generating assets then the company will not be able to generate adequate profits. Lastly the company has not borrowed any funds in the current year which is a very significant point for the determination fo the health of GWR. It clearly shows that GWR prefers to utilize its financial resources judiciously and put the east amount of pressure on the debt section of the liability side of the balance sheet. Also it has not issued any further shares in the current year as it supposes that the present cash being generated is enough for the company to perform well thus saving on the cost of issuing shares and the interest expense as well (Damodaran, 2015).
Conclusion
On a summarizing note, it is very evident that GWR is a very lucrative company to invest in because of the number of projects it has in hand. Although it is a loss making company but what is important is whether the company’s loss is increasing or the same is decreasing and from its income statement it is clear that the loss is decreasing but not at an increasing rate. Its expansion policies of venturing into new areas of mineral exploration will definitely yield good results but will take time as these are long gestation projects. Therefore the nature of the company’s operations makes it wary tot he fact that the projects undertaken by GWR is profitable but the real picture of profitability will be visible only after a long span.
Thus at its brim the company seems to be a loss making entity wherein the shareholder’s wealth does not find any room for increment but on studying the various projects and tasks undertaken by GWR, it definitely is a good stock to invest in for the long run. It is bound to yield results once the projects start earning revenues. Another most striking factor which is rare in most of these heavy industry specific companies is the dependence on debt funds but GWR is more concerned about maintaining and utilizing the present equity capital and thus does not have any debts in its balance sheet. Thus overall one can invest in GWR but after say another year or so once the financial position improves a bit and its loss gets reduced further.
I would like to strongly recommend that all long term prospective investors should wait and watch the performance of the company till its profitability position betters a little. Further it is not a lucrative stock for the short term investors and due to losses the company may not be able to yield nearby profits. Further to this a strong recommendation would go in for the management of GWR as well who should concentrate upon the top line of the company which is being hampered. By just entering into exploration and mining of minerals without yielding results is risky as the said sector is too much under influence of the political and the economical scenario of Australia. The company has unfortunately not shifted its stance towards making profits from developing GWR into a resource house. It has ended up laying off people which is a negative indication and the same should be dealt with carefully. Therefore it is high time that it should concentrate upon its prift margins more than its expansion policies
References
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