Technical Question: Cash-on-Cash Return LBO model 1st year

Hi,

sorry to start with a dumb question - I am a consultant trying to break into PE and currently working on my LBO modelling.

So got a running model, balance sheet balances, so far so good. Now something that I find slightly counter intuitive.
When calculating my cash-on-cash returns after year 1, I encounter the issue that they are very often below 1 (like 0.6x) even for higher EBITDA multiples compared to the initial valuation I used. I am making a mistake here or is that normal for year 1 cash-on-cash returns?

Thanks a lot for the help!