Sustainable growth rate of firms in financial distress

Sustainable growth rate defines the rate at which a company’s sales and assets can grow if the company sells no new equity and wishes to maintain its capital structure. The traditional formula assumes that the firm can increase its indebtedness. Many private firms and most firms in financial distress have limited or no access to debt markets. While distressed firms may prefer a no growth strategy, external pressures such as inflation or demand increases may cause their sales to rise exogenously. A new sustainable growth rate formula is developed that describes how much growth the firm with no new debt capacity can endure.