FREE CASH FLOW
An important factor in Shareholder Value Added analysis is
the free cash flow (FCF) generating capability of a company.
This is the cash flow available after allowing for capital
maintenance and interest payments. FCF
is calculated as:
Operating profit
Plus depreciation
Less cash tax paid
= Cash profits
Less investment in non-current assets and investment in
working capital
= Free Cash Flow
FCF is useful in providing an indication of the level of a
company’s cash flow generation.
It also
measures the amount of cash potentially available to cover the financing costs
of the business after all necessary investment has been made. Can the company safely consider raising more finance or
making a major capital investment?
Companies often provide figures for their FCF, but there is
no standard definition of the term so be cautious in using them.
If all interest payments are deducted, the resultant
“levered free cash flow” indicates the amount of cash potentially available for
dividends and future growth.
It is useful to compare the growth in free cash flow with
that of earnings. If the trends are
significantly different, is it possible to find the reason?
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