Equity
The share of assets belonging to the owners — assets less liabilities.
Equity is registered capital, capital funds, funds from profit, and retained earnings from previous years and the current period. It is what the owners would be left with if the company sold everything and paid off every debt.
Negative equity means liabilities exceed assets. That is a state a director is expected to address, and in a business partner it is the strongest simple warning sign a financial statement offers.
Low equity is not in itself a problem — plenty of working companies have small registered capital and operate on borrowed money. The difference that matters is between 'low' and 'negative'.
Equity in figures
The ranking fills up as companies with published statements arrive.
Where this figure comes from
Balance sheet, liabilities side, equity.
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