Capital Structure and Financial Performance: A Case of Saudi Petrochemical Industry

Abstract

The study investigates and measures the impact of capital structure, profitability and financial performance on the success of the business organization. Capital structure of the business organization refers to the proportion of external funds and internal funds, i.e., debt and equity. In Saudi Arabia, petrochemicals companies are working on equity, but financial performance reflects negative trend for the period 2004 to 2016. The research is based upon secondary data available on the websites of petrochemicals companies of Saudi Arabia. Financial Ratio variability analysis and Trend Indices of financial ratios (TI_CBI) measure and compare the financial variability and sensitivity of financial ratios of the business organization. Correlation between Trend Indices (TI_CBI) of independent variable and dependent variables are to be calculated to know the impact of changes in debt equity on other dependent variables. The results reveal the unexpected performance of petrochemicals companies due to under-utilization of the resources caused by low demand and lower prices of the products governed by some internal and external factors. The study finds that size, demand, cost of production, profitable streams of products, and low cost capital in external funds are the factors responsible for overall growth development of the petrochemicals industry of Saudi Arabia.