IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wun/timjeb/tjebv08y2015i01sa03.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of Return on Assets in Romania: a Principal Component Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Sorana VĂTAVU

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, Romania)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of capital structure, as well as its determinants on the financial performance of Romanian companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The analysis is based on cross sectional regressions and factor analysis, and it refers to a ten-year period (2003-2012). Return on assets (ROA) is the performance proxy, while the capital structure indicator is debt ratio. Regression results indicate that Romanian companies register higher returns when they operate with limited borrowings. Among the capital structure determinants, tangibility and business risk have a negative impact on ROA, but the level of taxation has a positive effect, showing that companies manage their assets more efficiently during times of higher fiscal pressure. Performance is sustained by sales turnover, but not significantly influenced by high levels of liquidity. Periods of unstable economic conditions, reflected by high inflation rates and the current financial crisis, have a strong negative impact on corporate performance. Based on regression results, three factors were considered through the method of iterated principal component factors: the first one incorporates debt and size, as an indicator of consumption, the second one integrates the influence of tangibility and liquidity, marking the investment potential, and the third one is an indicator of assessed risk, integrating the volatility of earnings with the level of taxation. ROA is significantly influenced by these three factors, regardless the regression method used. The consumption factor has a negative impact on performance, while the investment and risk variables positively influence ROA.

Suggested Citation

  • Sorana VĂTAVU, 2015. "Determinants of Return on Assets in Romania: a Principal Component Analysis," Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 8(1s), pages 32-47, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wun:timjeb:tjeb:v08:y2015:i01s:a03
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://tjeb.ro/index.php/tjeb/article/download/tjeb-vol8-2015-1s-03/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://tjeb.ro/index.php/tjeb/article/view/tjeb-vol8-2015-1s-03
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joshua Abor, 2005. "The effect of capital structure on profitability: an empirical analysis of listed firms in Ghana," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 6(5), pages 438-445, November.
    2. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    3. Huang, Guihai & Song, Frank M., 2006. "The determinants of capital structure: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 14-36.
    4. Camelia Burja Decemrie, 2011. "Factors Influencing The Companies' Profitability," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 2(13), pages 1-3.
    5. Baltagi, Badi H. & Liu, Long, 2008. "Testing for random effects and spatial lag dependence in panel data models," Statistics & Probability Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(18), pages 3304-3306, December.
    6. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    7. Ibrahim El-Sayed Ebaid, 2009. "The impact of capital-structure choice on firm performance: empirical evidence from Egypt," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 10(5), pages 477-487, November.
    8. Titman, Sheridan & Wessels, Roberto, 1988. " The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(1), pages 1-19, March.
    9. Chakraborty, Indrani, 2010. "Capital structure in an emerging stock market: The case of India," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 295-314, September.
    10. Michael L. Lemmon & Michael R. Roberts & Jaime F. Zender, 2008. "Back to the Beginning: Persistence and the Cross‐Section of Corporate Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1575-1608, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sorana Vatavu, 2016. "Non-linear Panel Data Analysis for Capital Structure and Its Impact on Profitability," The Review of Finance and Banking, Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti, Romania / Facultatea de Finante, Asigurari, Banci si Burse de Valori / Catedra de Finante, vol. 8(1), pages 021-036, June.
    2. İbrahim Yarba & Z. Nuray Güner, 2020. "Leverage dynamics: Do financial development and government leverage matter? Evidence from a major developing economy," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2473-2507, November.
    3. Sorana Vătavu, 2014. "The determinants of profitability in companies listed on the Bucharest stock exchange," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 14(1), pages 329-338.
    4. Biswajit Ghose & Kailash Chandra Kabra, 2019. "Firm Profitability and Adjustment of Capital Structure: Indian Evidence," Vision, , vol. 23(3), pages 297-308, September.
    5. Nham T.H. Nguyen & Bao K.Q. Nguyen & Bao C.N. To & Tam T.H. Le, 2021. "Capital Structure and Performance in Vietnamese Construction Firms: Using Quantile Regression Approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1357-1373.
    6. Bolaji Tunde Matemilola & Rubi Ahmad, 2015. "Debt financing and importance of fixed assets and goodwill assets as collateral: dynamic panel evidence," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 407-421, April.
    7. Biswajit Ghose & Kailash Chandra Kabra, 2020. "Does Growth Affect Firms’ Leverage Adjustment Speed? A Study of Indian Firms," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 8(2), pages 139-155, July.
    8. Mário Santos & António Moreira & Elisabete Vieira, 2014. "Ownership concentration, contestability, family firms, and capital structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(4), pages 1063-1107, November.
    9. Vo, Xuan Vinh & Ellis, Craig, 2017. "An empirical investigation of capital structure and firm value in Vietnam," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 90-94.
    10. Le, Thi Phuong Vy & Phan, Thi Bich Nguyet, 2017. "Capital structure and firm performance: Empirical evidence from a small transition country," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 710-726.
    11. Miguel Acedo-Ramírez & Juan Ayala-Calvo & José Rodríguez-Osés, 2013. "Capital structure of small companies in the Spanish footwear sector: relevant factors," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 155-173, June.
    12. McMillan, David G. & Camara, Omar, 2012. "Dynamic capital structure adjustment: US MNCs & DCs," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 278-301.
    13. Abel Ebeh Ezeoha, 2017. "Corporate Finance in Africa: The Interactive Impact of Firm Nationality and Characteristics," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 849-873, August.
    14. Dang, Viet Anh & Kim, Minjoo & Shin, Yongcheol, 2012. "Asymmetric capital structure adjustments: New evidence from dynamic panel threshold models," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 465-482.
    15. Abdul Rashid, 2017. "Security issuance decisions, idiosyncratic risk, and macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(4), pages 659-678, October.
    16. Ferris, Stephen P. & Hanousek, Jan & Shamshur, Anastasiya & Tresl, Jiri, 2018. "Asymmetries in the Firm's use of debt to changing market values," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 542-555.
    17. Ebrahim, M. Shahid & Girma, Sourafel & Shah, M. Eskandar & Williams, Jonathan, 2014. "Dynamic capital structure and political patronage: The case of Malaysia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 117-128.
    18. Kaushik Basu, 2015. "Market Imperfections and Optimal Capital Structure: Evidence from Indian Panel Data," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 16(1), pages 61-83, February.
    19. Elsas, Ralf & Florysiak, David, 2008. "Empirical Capital Structure Research: New Ideas, Recent Evidence, and Methodological Issues," Discussion Papers in Business Administration 4743, University of Munich, Munich School of Management.
    20. Fernando Duarte & Thomas M. Eisenbach, 2021. "Fire‐Sale Spillovers and Systemic Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(3), pages 1251-1294, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    corporate performance; capital structure; factor analysis.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • C38 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Classification Methdos; Cluster Analysis; Principal Components; Factor Analysis

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wun:timjeb:tjeb:v08:y2015:i01s:a03. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Romeo Margea (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feuvtro.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.