Is the SSP share price (LON:SSP) being held back by a weak balance sheet?

In 2009, Morgan Stanley strategy analyst, Graham Secker, used the Z-score to rank a basket of European companies. He found that the companies with weaker balance sheets underperformed the market more than two-thirds of the time. Other studies have found similar results.

The takeaway? Screen out weak balance sheets.

One effective way to do this is to apply the Altman Z-Score, a checklist that was found to be up to 80-90% accurate in predicting bankruptcy one year before the event in the 31 years up until 1999 in the original study.

A Z-Score of more than 2.99 is considered to be a safe company, but a Z-Score of less than 1.8 points to a significant risk of financial distress within two years. We can see the checklist in action by applying it to a listed company. Take large cap high flyer Ssp (LON:SSPG), for example.

How does SSP fare against Altman’s influential checklist?

What does the Altman Z-Score flag up about Ssp?

SSP's Altman Altman score raises an amber flag, with a Z-Score of 1.75... SSP's Z-Score doesn't mean that it is heading for financial distress, but it does mean further research is needed.

Specifically, our algorithms flag the following as risks:

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