Assessing the Financial Capacity of the Agricultural Companies

This book aims to assess the agricultural financial condition in the presence of imperfect agricultural and rural capital market. First, it gives an overview of the financial condition of the agricultural companies through a financial analysis, taking into account additional indicators specific to the agricultural finance. Second, it defines structural determinants of profitability of the agricultural companies by econometric modeling of micro-panel data. Hence, a fixed-effects model is specified, mainly focusing on the effects of capital structure decisions and the available financial support in agriculture. In this regards, empirical evidences are supported by theories of capital structure, i.e. the trade-off theory and the pecking-order theory, that explain the financial behavior of agricultural companies in obtaining profitability under restrictions of capital flows to agriculture. Finally, it concludes that agricultural companies in transition worry less about their capital structure since the supply of additional funds is not a function of their solvency and profitability situation due to existence of soft-budget constraints.