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Liberalization, financial performance and key strategic choices: some empirical evidence from energy companies

Felicetta Iovino (Worldwide Programmes, University of London, London, UK and School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK)
Dimitrios N. Koufopoulos (Worldwide Programmes, University of London, London, UK and School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK)
Giuliano Maielli (School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK)
Richard Meredith (School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK)

International Journal of Energy Sector Management

ISSN: 1750-6220

Article publication date: 31 May 2024

Issue publication date: 18 November 2024

42

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the impact and the link between some key strategic choices and financial performance of energy companies. In fact, in the light of the European energy directives and the related ransformations, it is interesting to analyze how much the financial performance of electricity and gas companies affects some choices related to some main characteristics of companies, and thus their active role.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses data collected from Amadeus, a database from Bureau Van Dyck, to create a sample consisting of an unbalanced panel of annual period series from 2009 to 2017. The sample includes all the electricity and gas limited retailer companies registred in two countries, Italy and the UK. The used method and post-estimations include probit models and as post-estimation marginal effects and matrices of correlation.

Findings

Results identify asset turnover (sales revenue/total assets), efficiency of invested capital, as the key drivers of the strategic decisions analyzed (that is being part of a group of companies, the business chosen, the type of country and if they are companies operating in more than one phase). Age, size and headquarter of company are also significant when they are included in a larger model as control variables.

Originality/value

The combination of the analysis of two of the largest European electricity and gas retail markets and inclusion of financial values as performance measures are key contributions of this paper.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Statements about ethics and integrity policies.

Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Funding: No funds received

Conflict of interest disclosure: no conflict of interest

Ethics approval statement: no need

Patient consent statement: no need Permission to reproduce material from other sources: no need

Citation

Iovino, F., Koufopoulos, D.N., Maielli, G. and Meredith, R. (2024), "Liberalization, financial performance and key strategic choices: some empirical evidence from energy companies", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 2252-2274. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJESM-01-2024-0006

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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