Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Is asset maintenance an investment?

From ALL (ALLL11) 2010 earnings release:

Investimentos

"Os investimentos em expansão da operação brasileira cresceram 31,1% em 2010 sobre o mesmo período do ano anterior, enquanto os investimentos em manutenção aumentaram 8,7%, de R$279,7 milhões para R$303,9 milhões."

Investiment, in my humble understanding, is something that may increase the company's earnings power in the future. Money used to keep the trains rolling the same way they do today is expense.

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2 comments:

sid said...

I really don't know for this case, because I don't like this company. But it could make sense if this "spending" will contribute to more than one result. For example, if it had to spend a big amount to renew determined steel rail, it's acceptable to put it in the assets and charge a proportional amount every year. It's not every year you'll have this kind of expenses.
But it could just be a shenanigan to fool "investors"...

cessna said...

Investment cashflow must be compared to depreciation, to know how much the free cash flow really is.

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