Kapitalo struktūros optimizavimo problema Lietuvos įmonėse eurointegracinių procesų sąlygomis

LTStraipsnyje pristatomas tyrimas, kuris buvo atliktas NVPB sąrašuose esančių didžiausių šalies akcinių bendrovių finansinių ataskaitų analizės pagrindu, ir kuriuo siekiama identifikuoti veiksnius, įtakojančius įmonių kapitalo struktūros parinkimą. Straipsnyje taip pat keliamas ir nagrinėjamas kapitalo struktūros optimizavimo klausimas Lietuvos įmonėse. Kapitalo struktūros modeliavimo atskirose įmonėse metodu siekiama nustatyti, ar įmonės naudoja optimalų finansinio sverto dydį ir išnaudoja finansavimo kaštų mažinimo galimybes. Straipsnyje pateikiamos galimos kapitalo struktūros kitimo tendencijos Lietuvos įmonėse ateityje eurointegracinių procesų įtakoje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Kapitalo struktūra; Optimali kapitalo struktūra; Finansinis svertas; Kapitalo kaštai; Capital structure; Optimal capital structure; Financial leverage; Costs of capital.

ENCapital structure is perhaps one of the most prolific areas of research in corporate finance. Extensive research over the past 40 years has been largely based on scientists' efforts to identify factors explaining a firm's decision with respect to its financial leverage and to ascertain optimal level of debt and equity in the firm's financing. The existing empirical research on capital structure has been largely confined to the developed countries. Questions about the determination of capital structure in developing countries have gained importance only in recent years, in the context of the fast changing institutional framework of these countries. However, most of this empirical research refers to rapidly growing markets of Asia and South America with remote interest in firms from transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe most of which arc currently experiencing a significant period of economic Eurointegration. This paper examines the choice of capital structure in transition countries through a study of the Lithuanian corporate sector. The study is based on financial data collected from the financial reports of 67 largest listed Lithuanian companies over the time period from 1999 to 2003, and the sample is drawn from the Lithuanian Security Commission database. The linear multiple regression model relying on the method of ordinary lest squares has been chosen to explore the correlation between the determinants of corporate capital structure and leverage. The findings suggest that Lithuanian companies employ significantly less financial debt in their capital structure compared to developed EU countries. Poor development of the country's debt market along with considerable business volatility can explain the limited usage of borrowed capital.The regression analysis reveals that leverage in Lithuanian companies increases with asset turnover, tangibility of firm's fixed assets, business risk and the firm's size, and decreases with profitability, non-debt tax shield and growth opportunities. These results reconcile with the theories developed in finance to explain the choice of capital structure within the firm, including the static trade-off arguments utilizing bankruptcy, agency and tax costs and pecking order arguments which rely on information asymmetries. They are also consistent with the previously reported empirical results from developed market economics. However, the observed determinants of capital structure do not fully explain the formation of capital structure in transition countries due to substantial leverage differences compared to developed countries. These differences can be explained by the analysis of capital structure modeling in the firms taken from different economic sectors which shows that the capital structure choice in Lithuanian companies is caused by attempts to seek financial stability, but not by the attempts to maximize the firm's value despite the existing opportunities to reduce capital costs by the given optimal level of debt to equity. That is due to unstable economic conditions and weakly developed financial sector which is typical for transition countries.However, the capital structure optimization will have to be one of the main concerns for managers of Lithuanian companies after being exposed to stronger competition in the EU. In order to be successful, they have to base their growth on healthy and low-cost funds. Lithuania's entry into the EU is expected to impose some capital structure corrections in Lithuanian companies in the direction of the existing patterns of firms' leverage in developed EU countries. The decreasing country's business environment and investment risk along with good opportunities for capital market integration and gradual assimilation of corporate financial management among all EU countries will enable Lithuanian firms to seek optimal level of financial leverage. It is likely that Lithuanian companies will discover unexploited potential for borrowing as economic conditions keep developing and become similar to those in advanced countries. Following economic developments, the capital structure shape in Lithuanian firms in the future will be mainly affected by flexibility of their financial decisions and magnitude of the firms' internal financial sources. [From the publication]