Main Ratios - Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR)
- 03:07
Main Ratios - Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) in renewable energy project finance.
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Glossary
Project finance Renewable EnergyTranscript
This is one of the most commonly used ratios. It is just very simply the cashflow available for debt service, divided by the amount of debt service. We calculate this period by period in the model. How much cashflow is coming in in any one period divided by the amount of debt service that is due and needs to be paid in that period. What does it tell us? It tells us how much cover the lender has to ensure that full repayment of whatever is due will happen. So if we have a debt service coverage ratio of two, it means we have twice as much cash flow as is needed to make the minimum amount of debt service payments. So even if cashflow then halved from its forecast amount to the actual, it would still be okay. We would still be able to cover our debt service. If on the other hand, you have a very low debt service coverage ratio, let's say 1.1 times, it means you've only got 10% more than the absolute minimum that you need to meet your debt service commitments. And it wouldn't take a large number of things to go wrong before that 10% could be eroded. And we end up with insufficient cash to be able to pay our debt service. We calculate this ratio period by period. It should get bigger as the project matures over time because the cashflow rises usually with inflation, possibly with growth volumes as well. And the debt service tends to decline over time because the amount of interest that is paid is less and less. As principal payments are made, the resulting interest in the next period is going to be less. Now, early in the project, especially during a construction period, you could end up with a debt service coverage ratio that is less than one or even negative. We need to assess if this is a real problem or not. It is perfectly normal, and to be expected that cashflow during the early stages of a project would be negative, we need to consider is it worth building a debt service coverage ratio during the construction period? If it's not, we don't do it because it gives a meaningless result. What we're interested in is how much cashflow happens during the operating period, because that's when the debt service will be payable. All of the ratios that we'll be discussing are built into the debt agreements, and they will have minimum values attached to them. So the projects management will have to calculate the debt service coverage ratio usually every quarter and report it to their lenders. And if it is below the minimum level that is specified in the debt agreement, then the project could potentially be in breach of its loan obligations and the lenders would have a range of different remedies that they could call upon to try and correct that.