Free cash flow explained, and the Uzbek data gap

Profit is an accounting opinion; cash is a fact. A company can report a healthy net profit while its bank balance shrinks, because customers have not paid yet or because it is pouring money into new equipment. Free cash flow measures the cash a business actually generates after keeping its assets running and growing. It is the money that can repay debt, pay dividends or build up reserves. This guide explains the idea, shows how to calculate it, and is honest about a practical problem in Uzbekistan: the cash-flow statement is often not available in a usable form.

The definition

The most common definition is:

• Free cash flow = operating cash flow − capital expenditure

Operating cash flow is the cash that comes in from customers minus the cash paid to suppliers, employees and the tax authorities in the course of normal business. Capital expenditure (capex) is the cash spent on fixed assets and intangible assets such as buildings, machines and software.

If a company reports 12 billion soʻm of operating cash flow and spends 8 billion soʻm on equipment, its free cash flow is 4 billion soʻm. If it spends 15 billion soʻm, free cash flow is negative 3 billion soʻm, and the gap must be covered by cash on hand, new loans or new shares.

What the Uzbek cash-flow statement looks like

Since 1 January 2025, the annual NSBU (in Uzbek BHMS) statements consist of the balance sheet, the report on financial results, the statement of equity, the cash-flow statement and the notes. Micro-firms and small enterprises submit only the balance sheet and the report on financial results (lex.uz, registration No. 3567, as of 26 September 2026). Under the order that applied until the end of 2024, the cash-flow statement was form No. 4 (lex.uz, as of 26 September 2026).

The current NSBU cash-flow statement, in thousands of soʻm, is laid out like this:

• Operating activity: cash received from sales (line 010), cash paid to suppliers (020) and to employees (030), and other operating receipts and payments (040). Line 050 is net operating cash flow.
• Investing activity: purchase and sale of fixed assets (060), of intangible assets (070) and of investments (080), plus other investing flows (090). Line 100 is the net investing total.
• Financing activity: interest (110), dividends (120), share issues (130), buybacks (140), loans (150), finance leases (160) and other financing flows (170), with the total on line 180.
• Taxes: income tax paid (190), other taxes paid (200), total taxes paid (210).
• Line 220 is the net change in cash, and lines 230 and 240 are cash at the start and end of the year.

One detail matters: on this form, taxes paid are a separate block, not part of line 050. So with the NSBU form:

• Free cash flow ≈ line 050 − line 210 − net spending on fixed and intangible assets (lines 060 and 070)

A worked example

A hypothetical company's cash-flow statement shows, in thousands of soʻm (illustrative numbers only):

• Net operating cash flow (050): 16,000,000
• Total taxes paid (210): 4,000,000
• Fixed assets, purchases net of sales (060): 7,000,000 paid out
• Intangible assets (070): 1,000,000 paid out

Free cash flow ≈ 16,000,000 − 4,000,000 − 7,000,000 − 1,000,000 = 4,000,000, or 4 billion soʻm.

If the same company reported a net profit of 10.2 billion soʻm, only about 40% of its profit turned into free cash. That is not necessarily bad, since the spending on equipment may lead to future growth, but it tells you how much room it had for dividends without borrowing.

The honest problem: the data is often missing

Here is the practical difficulty. The structured financial data that openinfo.uz publishes for each company covers the balance sheet (Form 1) and the report on financial results (Form 2). When we checked on 26 September 2026, requests for the cash-flow form returned the income statement again for the companies tested, not a cash-flow statement. Statements prepared under IFRS include a cash-flow statement by rule, but for most listed issuers there is no machine-readable cash-flow statement to download.

What that means for you as an investor:

• If you see a precise free cash flow figure for a UZSE company, check whether it was read from a full report document or estimated.
• Ratios built on free cash flow, such as free cash flow yield or a discounted cash flow valuation, rest on estimates for most Uzbek issuers and should be treated with caution.
• When a company does publish a full report with a cash-flow statement, it is worth reading, because it is the best evidence of whether profit becomes cash.

Estimating free cash flow from Form 1 and Form 2

When the cash-flow statement is missing, you can build a rough estimate from the two forms you do have, comparing the start and end of the year on the balance sheet:

1. Start with net profit (Form 2, line 270).
2. Add back depreciation, estimated as the increase in accumulated depreciation (Form 1, line 011), because it reduces profit without using cash.
3. Subtract the increase in inventories (line 140) and receivables (line 210), and add the increase in current payables (line 601). Money tied up in stock and unpaid invoices is not cash yet.
4. Subtract capital expenditure, estimated as the increase in fixed assets at original cost (line 010) plus the increase in capital investments in progress (line 100).

For example, with illustrative figures: net profit 10,200,000, depreciation 5,000,000, working capital up by 6,000,000 and capex 7,000,000 gives about 10,200,000 + 5,000,000 − 6,000,000 − 7,000,000 = 2,200,000.

Treat the result as an estimate. Asset sales, revaluations, write-offs and reclassifications all move these lines without any cash changing hands, so the number can be far from the true figure. Use it to ask questions, not to value a company to the last soʻm.

Where Finmind helps

Finmind does not invent a number here. The reported history on each public stock page, for example Oʻzbektelekom (UZTL), has a free cash flow line that says it is not reported and explains why: openinfo.uz publishes no cash-flow statement in structured form, so operating cash flow and capital expenditure are not available to subtract. The same page shows net income, and the balance-sheet figures behind the estimate above are in the filings. Our guides to the balance sheet, the income statement and debt to equity cover the lines you need.

This article is for education only and is not investment advice. Investing in securities involves risk, including the loss of money you invest.