Financial parameters affecting firm profitability: Panel data analysis on the maritime industry

Maritime transport, which is considered as one of the most important components of the transport sector, makes significant contributions to the national and world economies. This sector is one of the sectors in which developed countries strive to make progress. This is because 3/4 of the world is covered by water and the sector is seen as an important area of commercial activity. However, despite being a sector with great demands, maritime transport has a fragile structure. Therefore, sectoral enterprises should have a resilient structure against crises that may occur globally. For this reason, it is essential that enterprises make financial performance evaluations and take the right decisions and measures against these crises. The study aims to determine the factors affecting the financial performance of 10 enterprises operating in the maritime transport sector by panel data analysis method. The study includes two different dependent variables and covers the period 2011- 2022. According to the model estimation results obtained, the receivables turnover ratio and cash ratio have a positive effect on return on assets ratio, which is one of the financial performance indicators in the study, while leverage ratio and inventory turnover rate has a negative effect. While there are significant negative relationships between the return on equity ratio, which is another dependent variable in the study, and the leverage ratio, inventory turnover ratio, current ratio, the receivables turnover ratio and cash ratio have a significant positive effect on the return on equity ratio.