Cost of capital
Making a business successful is simply down to ensuring you earn more than your costs...
Making a business successful is simply down to ensuring you earn more than your costs. An easy way to check this in a company is by comparing the cost of the capital employed by the company with the return made on that capital. This allows you to see how much value (if any) management is adding.
The cost of capital is made up of the cost of the company's debt and the cost of its equity. The cost of debt is relatively simple in that it refers to the interest rate the company has to pay to borrow money (the riskier the company, the higher this is).
The cost of equity is trickier to work out. It depends not on dividends payable, but on several other variables that combine to quantify the opportunity cost of investing in the equity given the inherent risks involved. The average cost of debt and the cost of equity - weighted depending on the percentage each represents in the capital structure - are referred to as the weighted average cost of capital, or WACC.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Sign up to Money Morning
Our team, led by award winning editors, is dedicated to delivering you the top news, analysis, and guides to help you manage your money, grow your investments and build wealth.
-
Investors pulled £4.2bn from equity funds ahead of Budget tax raid
October was the third-worst month on record for fund flows, new figures show, as investors sold assets ahead of the Autumn Budget
By Katie Williams Published
-
What Keir Starmer's ‘Plan for Change’ means for you - six milestones explained
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has set out six milestones that the public can judge the government by - we reveal Labour's top policy targets
By Marc Shoffman Published