What Firm-Specific and Macroeconomic Determinants of Financial Structure Affect Transport and Storage Companies from Selected European Countries?

Abstract

A number of indicators can be assessed for a company’s financial health, with indebtedness indicators being one of the important ones. The formation of the financial structure is influenced by a huge number of factors. The subject of this research is the indebtedness of companies in the Transportation and storage industry. The companies come from the V4 countries, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Romania, between 2010 and 2018. In total 25,246 companies are analysed according to their size for medium and large companies. The aim of the research is to find out whether profitability, liquidity, asset structure, non-debt tax shield, GDP growth rate, reference interest rate, and inflation rate affect the level of total, long-term and short-term debt. The main finding is that corporate debt is significantly affected (measured by the value of coefficients) by non-corporate determinants and specifically the development of the reference interest rate. However, if we look at the most numerous determinants, it is profitability. Companies in the selected industry should focus primarily on the various forecasts within the external environment of the company and include them in their analyses when financing their activities.