The Interest Cover is a measure of how many times a company can pay its Interest Expenses from its Earnings. It is calculated as Operating Profit divided by the Interest Expense. This is calculated on a TTM basis.
This is a useful way of measuring a company's ability to meet its debt obligations. When the interest coverage ratio is smaller than 1, the company is not generating enough profit from its operations to meet its interest obligations.
The Company would then likely have to either use cash on hand to make up the difference or borrow funds.
It is seen as a possible warning sign when interest coverage falls below 2.5x. N.B.This relatively simple definition implicitly assumes that operating income is a true proxy for cashflow from operations which it should be for a steady state business where depreciation is equal to capital expenditure, and working capital change is zero.
If Total Interest Expense, Net for the period is less or equal 0 (i. E. the equivalent of Interest Income), then we set Interest Coverage to a value of 100x - this is somewhat arbitrary but it ensures that these companies will also pass a high interest coverage screen. If a company is loss-making, we still calculate this ratio - the figure will therefore be negative.
NOTE: This item is not meaningful for Banks and Insurance companies.
| Ticker | Name | Interest Cover | StockRank™ |
|---|---|---|---|
| LON:EAT | European Assets Trust | 2,371.67 | 52 |
| LON:PLUS | Plus500 | 1,682.00 | 98 |
| LON:IX. | I (X) Net Zero | 1,426.17 | 60 |
| LON:ARTL | Alpha Real Trust | 1,307.00 | 35 |
| LON:LSC | London Security | 717.77 | 75 |