ELD General Discussion, page-423

To begin, I do not have the tools to give a comprehensive answer. I have been looking at past financials and have questions myself- but given the paltry quantum of any investment that I might make here- and I have a life- they will largely need to remain questions.

The debt, largely, has to do with working capital- that is the day to day running of their business and less to do with capital assets. So, their business is churning over inventory and services and is 'capital light'. Hence, current liabilities rather than non-current.

The debt, largely, is secured by current assets.

The risk is that they just cannot generate enough profit to pay down debt in the better years.

It could be that it is the interest rate environment that is the risk as much as or more than the climate and seasonal variation.

My other question- they went into the GFC following a least a decade of profits and dividend payments- then they went down like a soccer forward in a penalty box. Was the GFC really the cause or did it simply bring to light hidden weakness? Were the previous years too good to be true? Can one bad year really bring an established profitable company to the brink?

More reading to do, but not yet, it is spring and this retiree must have a life.

IMHO DYOR