WH Smith (LSE:SMWH) Debt-to-EBITDA : 3.95 (As of Feb. 2024)

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What is WH Smith Debt-to-EBITDA?

Debt-to-EBITDA measures a company's ability to pay off its debt.

WH Smith's Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation for the quarter that ended in Feb. 2024 was £300 Mil. WH Smith's Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation for the quarter that ended in Feb. 2024 was £783 Mil. WH Smith's annualized EBITDA for the quarter that ended in Feb. 2024 was £274 Mil. WH Smith's annualized Debt-to-EBITDA for the quarter that ended in Feb. 2024 was 3.95.

A high Debt-to-EBITDA ratio generally means that a company may spend more time to paying off its debt. According to Joel Tillinghast's BIG MONEY THINKS SMALL: Biases, Blind Spots, and Smarter Investing, a ratio of Debt-to-EBITDA exceeding four is usually considered scary unless tangible assets cover the debt.

The historical rank and industry rank for WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA or its related term are showing as below:

LSE:SMWH' s Debt-to-EBITDA Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: -10.1 Med: 0.22 Max: 21.07
Current: 3.02

During the past 13 years, the highest Debt-to-EBITDA Ratio of WH Smith was 21.07. The lowest was -10.10. And the median was 0.22.

LSE:SMWH's Debt-to-EBITDA is ranked worse than
54.88% of 840 companies
in the Retail - Cyclical industry
Industry Median: 2.67 vs LSE:SMWH: 3.02

WH Smith Debt-to-EBITDA Historical Data

The historical data trend for WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

WH Smith Debt-to-EBITDA Chart

WH Smith Annual Data

Trend

Aug14

Aug15

Aug16

Aug17

Aug18

Aug19

Aug20

Aug21

Aug22

Aug23

Debt-to-EBITDA

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1.21

-10.10

21.07

4.39

3.02

WH Smith Semi-Annual Data
	Aug14	Feb15	Aug15	Feb16	Aug16	Feb17	Aug17	Feb18	Aug18	Feb19	Aug19	Feb20	Aug20	Feb21	Aug21	Feb22	Aug22	Feb23	Aug23	Feb24
Debt-to-EBITDA	Get a 7-Day Free Trial															4.69	3.74	3.53	2.80	3.95

Competitive Comparison of WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA

For the Specialty Retail subindustry, WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA, along with its competitors' market caps and Debt-to-EBITDA data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.

WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA Distribution in the Retail - Cyclical Industry

For the Retail - Cyclical industry and Consumer Cyclical sector, WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA falls into.

WH Smith Debt-to-EBITDA Calculation

Debt-to-EBITDA measures a company's ability to pay off its debt.

WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA for the fiscal year that ended in Aug. 2023 is calculated as

Debt-to-EBITDA	=	Total Debt			/	EBITDA
	=	(Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation	+	Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation)	/	EBITDA
	=	(200	+	751)	/	315
	=	3.02

WH Smith's annualized Debt-to-EBITDA for the quarter that ended in Feb. 2024 is calculated as

Debt-to-EBITDA	=	Total Debt			/	EBITDA
	=	(Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation	+	Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation)	/	EBITDA
	=	(300	+	783)	/	274
	=	3.95

In the calculation of annual Debt-to-EBITDA, the EBITDA of the last fiscal year is used. In calculating the annualized quarterly data, the EBITDA data used here is two times the quarterly (Feb. 2024) EBITDA data.

WH Smith (LSE:SMWH) Debt-to-EBITDA Explanation

In the calculation of Debt-to-EBITDA, we use the total of Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation and Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation divided by EBITDA. In some calculations, Total Liabilities is used to for calculation.

Be Aware

A high Debt-to-EBITDA ratio generally means that a company may spend more time to paying off its debt.

According to Joel Tillinghast's BIG MONEY THINKS SMALL: Biases, Blind Spots, and Smarter Investing, a ratio of Debt-to-EBITDA exceeding four is usually considered scary unless tangible assets cover the debt.

WH Smith Debt-to-EBITDA Related Terms

Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of WH Smith's Debt-to-EBITDA provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.

WH Smith (LSE:SMWH) Business Description

Industry

GURUFOCUS.COM » STOCK LIST » Consumer Cyclical » Retail - Cyclical » WH Smith PLC (LSE:SMWH) » Definitions » Debt-to-EBITDA

Comparable Companies

Traded in Other Exchanges

WHTPF:USA SMWHl:UK 21Q:Germany

Address

Greenbridge Road, Swindon, Wiltshire, GBR, SN3 3RX

Website

https://www.whsmithplc.co.uk

WH Smith PLC is a U.K. retailer selling a wide range of products. Its two core business segments are travel and high street. WHSmith's travel stores offer products such as food, drink, publications, books, and tech accessories and other products to travelers. This segment operates predominantly in airports, railway stations, hospitals, and workplaces across Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and India. The high street segment operates stores in the United Kingdom, predominantly on the U.K. high street. The high street segment sells products into the following categories: stationery, books, newspapers, magazines, and confectionery. WH Smith also has an online retail business that sells a range of books, stationery, magazines, and gifts through its websites.

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