FINANCIAL LEVERAGE

Financial leverage is the use of borrowed money (debt) to finance the purchase of assets with the expectation that the income or capital gain from the new asset will exceed the cost of borrowing. In most cases, the provider of the debt will put a limit on how much risk it is ready to take and indicate a limit on the extent of the leverage it will allow. In the case of asset-backed lending, the financial provider uses the assets as collateral until the borrower repays the loan. In the case of a cash flow loan, the general creditworthiness of the company is used to back the loan. When purchasing assets, three options are available to the company for financing: using equity, debt, and leases. Apart from equity, the rest of the options incur fixed costs that are lower than the income that the company expects to earn from the asset. In this case, we assume that the company uses debt to finance asset acquisition. The debt-to-equity ratio is used to determine the amount of financial leverage of an entity, and it shows the proportion of debt to the company’s equity. It helps the company’s management, lenders, shareholders, and other stakeholders understand the level of risk in the company’s capital structure. It shows the likelihood of the borrowing entity facing difficulties in meeting its debt obligations or if its levels of leverage are at healthy levels. The debt-to-equity ratio is calculated as follows: D/E RATIO= Total debt, in this case, refers to the company’s current liabilities and long-term liabilities. Equity refers to the shareholder’s equity plus the amount of retained earnings. Companies in the manufacturing sector typically report a higher debt to equity ratio than companies in the service industry, reflecting the higher amount of the former’s investment in machinery and other assets. Usually, the ratio exceeds the US average debt to equity ratio of 54.62%.