Determinants of Capital Structure of Italian Selected Listed Companies

Abstract

The study aims to identify the main determinants of the capital structure of Italian listed companies and is based on the assumption that profitability is the fundamental variable. For this purpose, a sample was selected consisting of all the companies that had published their 2021 financial statements at the date of the research. A linear regression model was used for the analysis of the relationships, in which the operating income to total assets and the financial result to total assets were considered as independent variables, while the equity ratio and the debt ratio were used as dependent variables The results obtained show that financial profitability contributes more than the operating one to the equilibrium of the capital structure.