WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PAPER COMPANIES IN INDIA

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1 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Online ISSN: WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PAPER COMPANIES IN INDIA J. Jeyanthi 1 Abstract Efficient management of working capital is one of the pre-conditions for the success of an enterprise. Efficient management of working capital means management of various companies of working capital in such a way that an adequate amount of working capital is maintained for smooth running of a firm and for fulfillment of twin objectives of liquidity and profitability. While inadequate amount of working capital impairs the firm s liquidity, holding of excess working capital results in the reduction of the profitability. Therefore, the present study intends to examine whether there exists any relationship between efficient management of working capital funds and firm level profitability in selected paper units in India. Keywords: Working Capital, Profitability and Liquidity. Introduction Working capital is the backbone of an organization. It refers to the portion of the total fund which finances the day to day working expenses during the operating cycle. Working capital management is concerned with problem that arises in attempting to manage the current assets, the current liabilities and the interrelationship that exists between them. Business firm cannot make progress without adequate working capital. Inadequate working capital means shortage of inputs, whereas excess of it leads to extra cost. So, the quantum of working capital in every business firm should be neither more nor less than what is actually required. The management has to see that funds invested as working capital in their organization earn return at least as much as they would have earned return if it invested anywhere else. At the time of increasing capital costs and scare funds, the area of working capital management assumes added importance as it deeply influences a firm s liquidity and profitability. So, the main objective of working capital management is to arrange the needed funds on the right time from the right source and for the right period, so that a tradeoff between liquidity and profitability may be achieved. Statement of the Problem The Indian paper industry is facing hard times these days with many financial problems. Most of the paper companies are operationally viable but suffering from financial distress. As a large manufacturing industry, working capital management in the paper industry involves a large portion of the company total assets. The optimum working capital ensures the success of the business while it s in efficient management will lead to the downfall of the company. Therefore, it is very important for the paper industry that the investment in working capital is carefully controlled. Hence, this paper analyses the working capital management and profitability of selected paper companies in India. Objectives of Study The specific objectives of the study are: To analyze and evaluate working capital management of selected units. To evaluate the inventory, receivable, cash and payable management performance. To know the profitability of paper industry and its impact on working capital. Methodology The sample selected for this study is top five Indian paper companies namely, International Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Limited (), J. K. Paper Mills Limited (JKPML), West Coast Paper Mill Limited (), Seshasayee Paper and Boards Limited (), Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (). The study covering a time period of tenyearsfrom to This study is based on secondary data which is collected from annual reports of company, CMIE prowess database and from different websites concerned. The collected data has been tabulated, analysed and interpreted with the help of different financial ratios and statistical tools. 1. Assistant Professor of Commerce,Sri Sarada Niketan College of Science for Women, Karur Page 44

2 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Print ISSN: Review of Literature Saravanan (2001) he employed several statistical tools on different ratios to examine the effective management of working capital. He concluded that the sample firms had placed more importance upon the liquidity aspect compared to that of the profitability aspect compared to that of the profitability. Prasad (2001) conducted a research study on the working capital management in paper industry. His sample consisted of 21 paper mills from large, medium and small scale for a period of 10 years. He reported that the chief executives properly recognized the role of efficient use of working capital in liquidity and profitability, but in practice they could not achieve it. The study also revealed that 50% of the executives followed budgetary method in planning working capital and working capital management was efficient due to sub-optimum utilization of working capital. Vijayakumar.A. (2002) his Determinants of profitability -divided into the various determinants of profitability viz., growth rate of sales, vertical integration and leverage. A part from these three variables he has selected current ratio, operate expenses to sales ratio and inventory turnover ratio. The researcher noted in his conclusion that efficiency in Inventory management and current assets are important to improve profitability. M.A. Zariyawati, M.N. Annur and A.S. Abdul Rahim (2009) investigated the relationship between working capital management and profitability of the firm. The researcher used the cash conversion cycle as a measure of working capital management. This study has used a panel data of 1628 firm s years for a period of 1996 to The co-efficient results of pooled OLS regression analysis provide a strong negative significant relationship between cash conversion cycle and profitability of the firms. It is revealed that by reducing the conversion cycle, a firm s profitability can be increased. Data Analysis and Interpretation Working Capital Ratios Table - 1 : Current Ratio The ideal current ratio is 2:1 but from table above it can be noted that the ratio is below the conventional standard norms 2:1 in all the year under study of the selected companies. The current ratio of selected paper companies during the study period has been shown an average of 0.91 times. The current ratio of all the selected companies has shown a declining trend. Decrease in current ratio of all the selected companies represents that there is no improvement in liquidity position of the firm. Table - 2 : Quick Ratio Table - 2 shows the quick ratio across the paper industry over ten-year period. The aggregate average quick ratio across industry was 1.14 times. It can be found that the average quick ratio of JK Paper Ltd and West Cost Paper Page 45

3 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Online ISSN: Mills has above the standard norms 1:1. For the rest of the companies the quick ratio is below the standard norms which indicate that the firm has trend an acute liquidity crisis during the period. Table - : Inventory Turnover Ratio Table - indicates fluctuating trend of inventory turnover ratio or all the companies during the entire study period. and had yearly average inventory turnover ratio 9.6 times and 9.54 times respectively, which was more than the industrial average, which indicates their greater sales efficiency. A relatively low inventory ratio of West Coast Paper Mills Limited and APPM Paper Limited that is indicates in effective inventory management. That is carrying out of data inventory to avoid writing off inventory losses against income. Table - 4 : Debtors Turnover Ratio Table - 4 reveals that there is a fluctuating trend of debtor s turnover ratio of all the companies. The higher value of average receivables turnover of International Paper APPM Limited (18.46 times) and West Coast Paper Mill (17.05 times) indicates that the companies were more efficient in management of debtors. Receivable Management of JK Papers Limited was good. Similarly, comparatively low average receivable turnover ratio of and TNBL companies implies that they have less liquid receivables Table - 5 : Cash Turnover Ratio Lower cash to sales ratio indicates the effective and better utilization of cash resources. But too low ratio indicates overtrading. Higher ratio indicates the ineffective utilization of cash resources. As no standard norm is available to judge whether the ratio is low or high comparison with similar firms in the industry is to be made to conclude whether the company is utilizing its cash efficiently or not. Table No. indicates highly fluctuating trend of cash Page 46

4 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Print ISSN: turnover ratio of all the companies during the entire study period. That it can be said that the size of cash in relation to sales was very poor in all the selected companies and high rate of fluctuations in this ratio indicates absence of specific policy in all the selected companies. Table - 6 : Creditors Turnover Ratio Though the creditors turnover ratio of (12.1 times) was higher than the industrial average (7.9 times), it can be noted that the ratio shows a decreasing trend during the study period. Average creditors turnover ratio of 8.67 times which was more than the industrial average. The high ratio signifies that the creditors are being paid promptly, thus boosting up the credit worthiness of the firm while the average payable turnover ratio of SBPL Company was least signifies that it enjoys more credit and able to get extra liquidity but the firm is not taking the full advantages of credit facilities. Table - 7 : Working Capital Turnover Ratio Working capital turnover ratio measures how efficiently a firm its working capital to generate sales. An increasing working capital turnover shows that the company is more able to generate sales from its working capital on the contrary a decreasing working capital turnover shown that the company is less able to generate sales form working capital. From Table 7 it is observed that average working capital turnover ratio (.19 times and (29.78 times companies were higher than the other selected companies which meansthese companies were performing up to Par. Average working capital turnover ratio of limited, JK limited and West Coat Paper Mills is least which indicates that their activities were not generating enough revenue to cover expenses. Table - 8 : Gross Profit Ratio Page 47

5 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Online ISSN: As it could be observed in Table - 9. Among all the sample companies, company sustained the highest gross profit ratio followed by West Coast International Paper Limited, JK paper and Limited respectively. It indicates that Company had greater ability to meet its operating expenses. However, all selected companies have satisfactory level of gross profit. Table - 9 : Net Profit Ratio The net profit ratio of the sample companies is depicted in Table - 9. among all the sample companies, company sustained the highest net profit ratio (9.1%) followed by West Coast Limited (5.75), Limited (5.62), JK Paper Limited (.26) and International Paper in APPM (0.60). On an aggregate basis, registered a highest average net profit and Limited registered a lowest average net profit. Table - 10 : Operating Profit Ratio As it could be observed in Table among all the sample companies, West Coast Paper Limited sustained the highest operating profit ratio (16.80%) followed by International APPM Limited (15.%), Paper Limited (15.48%), JK Paper Limited(14.66%) and (11.98) companies respectively. However, all selected companies have satisfactory level of operating profit. Table - 11 : Return on Networth Ratio Table -11 showed the aggregate average return on net worth across the industry was TNPA (14.62), (1.95) and WCMPL (11.54) showed less return on net worth when industry average. (8.48) showed less return on net worth against industry average. Return on net worth of company showed steep declining trend Page 48

6 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Print ISSN: during last half of the study period, which indicates that the firm has not utilize their resources in an effective manner. Table - 12 : Return on Capital Employed Ratio Table - 12 shows the aggregate average return on capital employed across the industry was (9.18) and (9.04) showed highest ratio when compared to industry average. (6.28) and (6.48) showed less return on investment against industry average. Return on capital employed of Limited showed increasing trend during first half of the study period thereafter, it showed steep declining trend which implies that the firm has not utilize their capital in an effective manner. Table - 1 : Return on Total Assets Ratio Table - 1. indicates that the average return on total assets across the industry was.22. (4.50), (4.14) and (.98) had proficient management using its possessions to make profit. showed positive return on total assets except in the year and limited showed high negative return on total assets during , which in turn showed least average return on total asset of 0.2 against industry average. It indicates inefficient use of company assets. Testing the Significance of Correlation Co-Efficient To know the impact of working capital on profitability of the selected paper industry, the researcher used t distribution test. Null Hypothesis (H0) There is no significant relationship between working capital ratios and Return on Investment of the selected companies. Alternate Hypothesis (H1) There is significant relationship between working capital ratios and Return on Investment of the selected companies. Page 49

7 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Online ISSN: Relationship Investment and Current Ratio Investment and Quick Ratio Investment and Inventory Turnover Ratio Investment and Debtors Turnover Ratio Investment and Cash Turnover Ratio Investment and Creditors Turnover Ratio Investment and Working Capital Turnover Ratio Table - 14 : T Distribution Correlation r Source: T distribution has been performed in MS Excel. Calculated Value Degree of Freedom Table 5% Confidence Remarks To examine the relationship between different working capital ratios and profitability, the correlation coefficient was calculated and its significance level was checked thereafter. We observed a positive correlation between CR and ROI as the coefficient was found 0.668, which states that higher CR increased the ROI and vice-versa. However,at the same time t test was found insignificant and we could not find strong evidence to accept our alternate hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between CR and ROI. We found a positive correlation between QR and ROI as the coefficient was found 0.901, which states that adequate liquidity has a positive impact on profitability and vice-versa. T test was also found that there is a significant relationship between QR and ROI. A high inventory turnover indicates efficient management of inventory because when the stocks are sold more frequently lesser amount of money is required to finance the inventory. We found a positive correlation between ITR and ROI.It means that high inventory turnover impact the profitability of company positively and vice versa. However, the coefficient was found statistically insignificant. A high receivables turnover ratio implies that the collection of accounts receivable is efficient at the company, leading to higher profitability. We also observed the same relationship between DTR and ROE. We found a positive correlation coefficient (0.015), which indicates that higher the DT ratio better the profitability. But the statistical results found it insignificant. On the same line, we found moderate degree of positive relationship (0.481)between CTR and ROE, which indicates higher cash turnover will lead to higher profitability and vice versa. But found statistically insignificant and hence we could not find strong evidence to accept our alternate hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between CTR and ROE. Generally, a high working capital turnover ratio is considered to be better as this validate that the company is utilizing its working capital more efficiently. But our correlation coefficient between WTR and ROE was found moderately negative (-0.462), which indicates that higher working capital turnover ratio has a negative impact on profitability and vice versa. However, we could not find strong evidence to accept our alternate hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between WTR and ROE.We found a lower degree of positive correlation coefficient between CTTR and ROE This relationship was also found statistically insignificant. Page 50

8 Primax International Journal of Commerce and Management Research Print ISSN: Suggestions To keep on the present good condition of the value of the current assets, the management should continue theeffective policy of inventory and credit sales taken from the year onwards. The company must maintain a satisfactory and stable liquid policy by financing the net working capital with longterm sources The company has to adopt a constant policy in regard to inventory levels.the management should take effective measures to recover the outstanding of the company. The cash balance of the company is required to be improved in order to have immediate liquidity position. But at the same time, precaution should be taken to see that too many funds are not locked up in cash balance, which ultimately may lead to improper utilization of funds. The effective and efficient cash inflow provides an opportunity to co-ordinate with cash outflow. Proper coordinated cash inflow and outflow management will maintain sound and better working capitalmanagement, the improvement in credit collection and selling will boost their sales and will record them in cash inflow management. Conclusion The study was undertaken to analyze the working capital management and profitability analysis of selected paper companies in India. We found both positive and negative relationship between working capital ratios and profitability of selected paper companies in India. It can be concluded that overall working capital efficiency is satisfactory. But since considered on a little higher side had negative impact on profitability. However, none of the relationships among working capital ratios and profitability was found statistically significant. It is found that the company suffers fromcertain weakness and some suggestions are given to overcome it. If the suggestions are implemented, the company canincrease its working capital and overall performance at the right time. The company has to identify the possible ways tocontrol and increase overall working capital efficiency checks at different level which will contribute to the overall growthof the company. References 1. Saravanan P., A study on working capital management non-banking Finance companies - Finance India, 2001, Vol.XV.No., pp Prasad., Working Capital Management in Paper Industry Finance India, 2001, Vol. XV, No. 1, pp A.Vijayakumar., Working Capital Finance in National Corporative Sugar Mills Ltd., Tamil Nadu. A case study Research studies in commerce and management setia pointers, New Delhi, p M.A. Zariyawati, M.N. Annur and A.S. Abdul Rahim (2009), Working capital management and corporate performance - Case of Malaysia, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia, Journal of Modem Accounting and Auditing, Vol.5. No Jeyachitra. A., Bennat, A., and Nageswari, (2010) SMART Journal of Business Management Studies, Vol.6 No.1. January-June Ramachandran Azhagaiah and Gopinathan Radhika (2012) SMART Journal of Business Management Studies, Vol.6 No.1. July-December M Y Khan and P K Jain (200) Financial management text and problems Tata McGraw Hill publishing company Limited. New Delhi. 8. Prassana Chandra, (2002) Financial management theory and practice, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing company Limited, New Delhi. 9. Shashi K. Gupta and R.K. Sharma (201) (Management Accounting Principles and Practice Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi. 10. Annual Reports of the selected paper company, to Page 51