Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. In light of that, when we looked at Flat Glass Group (HKG:6865) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Flat Glass Group, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.10 = CN¥2.1b ÷ (CN¥29b - CN¥8.5b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

Thus, Flat Glass Group has an ROCE of 10%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Semiconductor industry average of 11%.

View our latest analysis for Flat Glass Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Flat Glass Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Flat Glass Group.

How Are Returns Trending?

Unfortunately, the trend isn't great with ROCE falling from 19% five years ago, while capital employed has grown 541%. Usually this isn't ideal, but given Flat Glass Group conducted a capital raising before their most recent earnings announcement, that would've likely contributed, at least partially, to the increased capital employed figure. It's unlikely that all of the funds raised have been put to work yet, so as a consequence Flat Glass Group might not have received a full period of earnings contribution from it.

Our Take On Flat Glass Group's ROCE

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Flat Glass Group. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 1,818% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So should these growth trends continue, we'd be optimistic on the stock going forward.

One final note, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Flat Glass Group (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored) .

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.