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ALS Current ratio

What is the Current ratio of ALS?

The Current ratio of ALS Limited is 1.21

What is the definition of Current ratio?



Current ratio is a liquidity ratio that measures whether or not a company has enough resources to meet its short-term obligations.

mrq (most recent quarter)

The current ratio is an indication of a company's liquidity and measures the capability to meet a company's short-term obligations. It compares a firm's current assets to its current liabilities, and is expressed as current assets divided by current liabilities. The ratio is only useful when two companies are compared within industry because inter industry business operations differ substantially. To determine liquidity, the current ratio is not as helpful as the quick ratio, because it includes all those assets that may not be easily liquidated, like prepaid expenses and inventory.

Acceptable current ratios vary from industry to industry. In many cases an investor would consider a high current ratio to be better than a low current ratio, because a high current ratio indicates that the company is more likely to pay the investor back. Large current ratios are not always a good sign for investors. If the company's current ratio is too high it may indicate that the company is not efficiently using its current assets or its short-term financing facilities. If current liabilities exceed current assets the current ratio will be less than 1. A current ratio of less than 1 indicates that the company may have problems meeting its short-term obligations.

Some types of businesses can operate with a current ratio of less than one however. If inventory turns into cash much more rapidly than the accounts payable become due, then the firm's current ratio can comfortably remain less than one. Inventory is valued at the cost of acquiring it and the firm intends to sell the inventory for more than this cost. The sale will therefore generate substantially more cash than the value of inventory on the balance sheet. Low current ratios can also be justified for businesses that can collect cash from customers long before they need to pay their suppliers.

Current ratio of companies in the Industrials sector on ASX compared to ALS

What does ALS do?

ALS Limited provides professional technical services primarily in the areas of testing, measurement, and inspection in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Americas. The company operates through three segments: Commodities, Life Sciences, and Industrial. The Commodities segment offers assaying and analytical testing, and metallurgical services for the mining and mineral exploration companies in geochemistry, metallurgy, inspection, and coal quality areas. Its testing and consulting services cover the resource life cycle, including exploration, feasibility, optimization, production, design, development, trade, and rehabilitation. This segment also provides coal sampling, analysis and certification, formation evaluation, and related analytical testing services. The Life Sciences segment offers analytical testing and sampling, and remote monitoring services for the environmental, food, pharmaceutical, and consumer products markets; and microbiological, physical, and chemical testing services. This segment also provides analytical testing data to assist consulting and engineering firms, industries, and governments. The Industrial segment offers diagnostic testing and engineering solutions for the energy, resources, transportation, and infrastructure sectors. This segment serves asset owners, operators, constructors, and equipment manufacturers in the power, petrochemical, mining, minerals processing, water, infrastructure, and transportation industries. The company was formerly known as Campbell Brothers Limited and changed its name to ALS Limited in August 2012. ALS Limited was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Stafford, Australia.

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