Analysis of the economic and financial performance of companies in the Brazilian energy sector: a proposal for grouping

Abstract

This paper aims to group the companies in the Brazilian energy sector according to the economic and financial performance achieved in 2015, as well as to verify the influence of the type of energy, size, control and location of the companies on the economic-financial indicators analyzed. We investigated 70 companies in the energy sector, listed in the "Maiores e Melhores" section of Revista Exame. A quantitative study was developed, applying the techniques of Cluster Analysis, Discriminant Analysis and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Performance was measured through 7 indicators: Current Liquidity Ratio, General Liquidity Ratio, General Indebtedness, Long-Term Indebtedness, Adjusted Net Profit, Adjusted Equity and Wealth Created by Employee. As a result, 6 groups of companies were created and such companies were classified according to their economic-financial indicators. We concluded that 70% of the companies belong to groups with “good performance and high liquidity”, “good performance and high profitability” or “excellent performance”, with satisfactory economic and financial performance. On the other hand, 30% of companies belong to groups with “poor performance and low liquidity”, “poor performance and low profitability” or “very low performance”, which do not have a satisfactory economic-financial performance. These groups of companies have low profitability (in some cases, negative profitability), together with high indebtedness indices. In addition, it was observed that the size, type of control and main type of energy provided by the company had influence in at least one of the economic-financial indicators studied. Due to the strategic nature of the energy sector and its direct correlation with other sectors, organizations that have been classified as “poor performance and low liquidity”, “poor performance and low profitability” or “very low performance” need to seek alternatives to improve their indicators and, consequently, ensure the provision of the services and the survival of the firms themselves.