Relation between intangible assets, macroeconomic environment, and market value of German public companies - period from 1999 to 2016

Abstract

The present paper is aimed to investigate the relation of intangible assets, macroeconomic data and market value of German public companies from 1999 to 2016. This paper innovates in relation to those who used the theoretical reference of the neoclassical production function by introducing ranges of variations for the main variables of the model (growth rate of sales, rate of return to fixed capital, rate of return for German bonds, internal product growth rates, discount rates) to verify if the contribution of intangibles is supported by significant changes in the variables essential for estimating the model. Entrepreneurs and executives believed that the key to success in business was associated with its tangible assets and what they were able to produce.  Recently it was realized that the value of a company is not restricted to tangible assets, but also to the assets  with no physical form, such as trademarks, intellectual capital, patents, and other intangible assets. The verification of the impact of the intangibles on the company's market value is made through proxies according to the methodology proposed by Gu & Lev (2011), the Euribor rate and the Credit Default Swap as a country risk proxy and sensitivity analysis for the weighting weighing of Ebitda and for economic growth assumptions. The methodological approach is a test-based quantitative research by using analysis of correlation and regression with panel data using STATA-15 software in order to determine the impact of intangible assets on the market value of the company. The sample was extracted from the Capital IQ database of all public companies listed in Germany from 1999 to 2016 on annual basis. As a result, it was verified that Ebitda is a consistency element of intangibility, and it  impacts the IDE and IC calculation over time, with positive relation with Market Value of German companies, but partial evidences that generate  added value to shareholders.