I did some research and realised that the generic term "gearing" that people use have different meanings. For Reits: Gearing = Total Debt/Total Asset. Using LMIR as example for FY2010, gearing = 125000 / 1212508 = 10.3% (ST debt of LMIR = 0) (this is what you see in the presentation in LMIR.) (For reits, this is usually the gearing which they talk about) However, some people also use gearing as Total debt/Total Equity where Total debt = LT debt + ST debt Using LMIR as example for FY2010, gearing = 125000 / 901909 = 13.7% For Net gearing, which is the most useful in my opinion as it account the cash portion. Net gearing = Net debt / Total equity where Net debt = LT debt + ST debt - cash & cash equivalents. This ratio include the liquid portion of the company, cash & cash ......