Here's Why We're Not At All Concerned With Poolbeg Pharma's (LON:POLB) Cash Burn Situation

Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. For example, although software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.

So should Poolbeg Pharma (LON:POLB) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? For the purpose of this article, we'll define cash burn as the amount of cash the company is spending each year to fund its growth (also called its negative free cash flow). Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

See our latest analysis for Poolbeg Pharma

How Long Is Poolbeg Pharma's Cash Runway?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. As at December 2021, Poolbeg Pharma had cash of UK£21m and no debt. In the last year, its cash burn was UK£3.0m. That means it had a cash runway of about 7.1 years as of December 2021. Even though this is but one measure of the company's cash burn, the thought of such a long cash runway warms our bellies in a comforting way. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

Can Poolbeg Pharma Raise More Cash Easily?

Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations.

Poolbeg Pharma has a market capitalisation of UK£27m and burnt through UK£3.0m last year, which is 11% of the company's market value. As a result, we'd venture that the company could raise more cash for growth without much trouble, albeit at the cost of some dilution.

Is Poolbeg Pharma's Cash Burn A Worry?

Given it's an early stage company, we don't have a lot of data with which to judge Poolbeg Pharma's cash burn. We would undoubtedly be more comfortable if it had reported some operating revenue. However, it is fair to say that its cash runway gave us comfort. In conclusion, we don't see why investors should be concerned with its cash burn, at least for some time. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 6 warning signs for Poolbeg Pharma (2 are potentially serious!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.