Financial performance of Ukrainian enterprises during the war

Purpose. To identify the profitability patterns of enterprises in various spheres and types of economic activity of Ukraine during the continued military conflict by quantifying the relationship between profitability and capital structure, business activity, and industry specifics. Methodology. The empirical basis of the study consists of statistical indicators of business entities’ activities aggregated by special groupings for the period 2014‒2023. For the analysis, ten sections of economic activity (NACE) were selected, covering the key sectors of the national economy. The methodological framework of the research includes both general scientific and specific methods, namely: the method of abstraction (used to identify the main factors influencing the level of enterprise profitability), the method of induction (to extend the patterns identified in the sample to enterprises across all sectors of the Ukrainian economy), and the method of economic and mathematical modeling (to verify the hypothesis regarding the existence of cause-and-effect relationships between the level of profitability, capital structure, business activity, and type of economic activity of enterprises, and to construct a multifactor regression model based on the identified patterns). Findings. The negative impact of the share of long-term liabilities in the capital structure and the positive impact of revenue growth on the return on assets during continued military conflict were revealed. In addition, it was found that return on assets, ceteris paribus, varies by spheres and types of economic activity. Originality. The patterns are identified of change of return on assets of enterprises during continued military conflict depend on the share of long-term liabilities in the capital structure, the annual growth rate of revenue, and the impact of industry specifics. Practical value. The results of the study can be used both at the level of individual enterprises and at the national level. To increase the profitability of assets, it is recommended that enterprise management optimize the capital structure in favor of, first and foremost, own sources of financing and, secondly, short-term liabilities, as well as increase business activity. In addition, it is proposed to introduce a special tax regime for Fortetsia.City, which provides for increased tax rates on labor and limits on reserving military conscripts, which will make it possible to reduce the state budget deficit and preserve human capital.