Mainstreet Junction Business Plan — Debt Service and Working Capital

Debt service across the senior and oil company facilities, and why wet stock ties up cash in a fuel retail business.

Debt Service and Working Capital

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  • 12.1 Working capital
  • 12.2 The cash conversion cycle
EBITDA, debt service and cover ratio
Figure 18. EBITDA, debt service and cover ratio.

R’000

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

EBITDA

5 324

7 909

10 418

12 393

14 023

Senior facility interest

2 880

2 880

2 685

2 467

2 222

Senior facility capital

1 624

1 819

2 038

2 282

Oil company facility interest

630

528

415

290

152

Oil company facility capital

973

1 075

1 188

1 313

1 451

Total debt service

4 483

6 107

6 107

6 107

6 107

Debt service cover ratio

1.19x

1.29x

1.71x

2.03x

2.30x

Debt outstanding at year end

29 027

26 327

23 320

19 970

16 237

Cover opens at 1.19 times, which is below the 1.30 times a bank would typically require and is achievable only because of the twelve-month capital moratorium. It reaches 1.29 times in Year 2, clears the covenant threshold in Year 3 at 1.71 times, and reaches 2.30 times by Year 5. Year 1 and Year 2 are the years in which the funder is exposed, and the plan’s response is the debt service reserve funded from the working capital buffer, no distributions before Year 3, and a distribution gate set at 1.50 times cover.

12.1 Working capital

R’000

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Fuel and shop inventory

2 177

2 691

3 126

3 493

3 819

Trade and other receivables

1 353

1 667

1 929

2 149

2 341

Trade and other payables

(2 208)

(2 667)

(3 044)

(3 369)

(3 664)

Net working capital

1 322

1 691

2 012

2 273

2 496

Movement in the year

1 278

(370)

(320)

(261)

(223)

Fuel stock days on hand

6

6

6

6

6

Shop stock days on hand

21

21

21

21

21

12.2 The cash conversion cycle

Element

Days

Effect on cash

Fuel purchased and delivered

Day zero

Product paid for on delivery or within five days under the supply agreement

Fuel sold at the pump

Roughly six days on average

Six days of stock on hand at Year 5 volumes is roughly R1.9 million of product

Card settlement

One to two days

Card penetration exceeds two-thirds of fuel sales

Cash banked

Daily

Contracted cash-in-transit collection; a drop-safe protocol with a limited forecourt float

Shop stock

Twenty-one days

A smaller absolute number but a slower cycle than fuel

Trade creditors

Five days on fuel, fourteen on shop and services

Fuel terms are short because the product is high-value and fast-moving

Net cycle

Approximately eight days

Modest by retail standards, but scaled by a very large cost of sales

The cycle is short but the numbers running through it are large. At Year 5 the cost of fuel sold is R156 million, so a single day of working capital is roughly R430 000. That scale is what makes a pump price spike a treasury event: the days do not change but the rand value of each one rises with the price, and none of it improves gross profit.

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