Asset intensity

The title of this article is ambiguous. It describes the system intensity indicator. For alternative interpretations of the term, see the competitive matrix

Investment intensity ( investment ratio ) is an economic key figure that shows the ratio of fixed assets to the total assets of a company .

General

The investment intensity is one of the key figures of the vertical asset structure in the context of asset analysis, because it determines the proportion of fixed assets in total assets. The investment intensity also measures how much of the total capital is tied up in fixed assets. The fixed assets permanently available to a company are at the center of this key figure, because they tie up capital in the long term, which causes fixed costs such as interest expenses (for debt capital ) and depreciation or dividend payments (for equity capital ). Interest expenses and depreciation reduce the profit , so that only operationally necessary assets should be available for the production process.

calculation

The fixed assets for the numerator, the total assets or the balance sheet total for the denominator of the formula are taken from the annual financial statements . The numerator should not be reduced by only selecting tangible assets , since equity investments and intangible assets are also tied up by capital. The key figure determined in this way is usually called "system intensity", sometimes also "system intensity I " for a more precise differentiation :

${\displaystyle \mathrm {Anlagenintensit{\ddot {a}}t\,I} ={\frac {\mathrm {Anlageverm{\ddot {o}}gen} }{\mathrm {Gesamtverm{\ddot {o}}gen} }}}$

Sometimes a system intensity II is also determined:

${\displaystyle \mathrm {Anlagenintensit{\ddot {a}}t\,II} ={\frac {\mathrm {Sachanlageverm{\ddot {o}}gen} }{\mathrm {Gesamtverm{\ddot {o}}gen} }}}$

The complementary variable to plant intensity I is the circulation intensity . It compares the current assets with the total assets.

The higher the key figure for plant intensity I, the greater the proportion of operational plants in a company's total assets. Since the fixed assets should ideally be financed entirely or predominantly by equity, a high investment intensity is usually accompanied by a high equity ratio . Plant-intensive operations have a high plant intensity and are subject to the risk of being exposed to underutilized capacities with fluctuations in the level of employment, resulting in idle costs . In particular, fixed costs such as interest expenses and depreciation are wholly or partially no longer generated by the sales process in the event of underemployment and can lead to losses (so-called operating leverage ). These fixed costs constantly force the company to fully utilize its capacity so that the fixed costs of fixed assets are distributed over the largest possible number of products and therefore kept as low as possible for each product ( unit costs ) ( fixed cost degression ). Conversely, a low system intensity can cause capacity bottlenecks in production, be due to investment backlogs or sale-lease-back . The lower the investment quota, the more flexibly a company can adapt to changed market conditions. The system intensity is therefore also a measure of the adaptability or flexibility of a company.

The key figure is very industry- dependent, which is why it can fluctuate between 10% and 70% depending on the industry. Plant-intensive companies include the machine-intensive manufacturing industry , transport , infrastructure or telecommunications companies . Since holdings also belong to the fixed assets, holdings show a very high investment intensity. A very low plant intensity can be found in trade and in the construction industry because the production factor work predominates (see work intensity ).

Business aspects

The plant intensity can also be seen from the point of view of the machine running speed. Particularly in assembly line production and production lines , the speed of assembly lines can be changed within the scope of the intensity adjustment , which affects the production volume , the time of use (machines) and working time ( personnel ) as well as personnel costs. This type of adaptation can be used without changing the capacities .

literature

• Peter R. Preißler, Business Management Figures , Oldenbourg Verlag, 2008, ISBN 3486238884

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bern Heesen, balance sheet design , 2009, p. 67
2. ↑ ^{a b} Jörg Woltje: Financial figures and company valuation . Haufe, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-648-02511-6 , pp. 41-43 .
3. ↑ Peter R. Preißler, Business Key Figures , 2008, p. 127 f.
4. ↑ J. Hilmar Vollmuth / Robert Zwettler, Pocket Guide Key Figures , 2013, p. 53
5. ↑ Claudia Ossola-Haring, Handbook Key Figures for Corporate Management , 2006, p. 56