Optimal capital structure of a company

Razmerje med različnimi vrstami kapitala - vrednostnimi papirji, ki jih podjetje izda za pridobitev virov financiranja svojega poslovanja, imenujemo struktura kapitala podjetja. Podjetje lahko z izbiro različnih razmerij med dolžniškim in lastniškim kapitalom pozitivno (ali pa tudi negativno) vpliva na svojo vrednost, saj ima vsaka vrsta financiranja prednosti in slabosti. Financiranje z dolžniškim kapitalom znižuje davčno osnovo in s tem pripomore k plačilu nižjega davka. Po drugi strani pa podjetje zavezuje k plačevanju obresti, kar lahko privede do finančnih težav, katerih stroške je pri izbiri strukture kapitala prav tako potrebno upoštevati. Ker je vrednost podjetja enaka sedanji vrednosti prihodnjih denarnih tokov, ki jih diskontiramo z WACC, lahko vpliv strukture kapitala na vrednost podjetja pokažemo tudi preko stroškov financiranja. Pri optimiziranju strukture kapitala vodilni v podjetjih »tehtajo« pozitivne in negativne učinke, ki jih njihovemu podjetju prinaša zadolževanje in zato pravimo, da gre za ravnanje v skladu s teorijo tehtanja. Ni pa to edini način optimiziranja strukture kapitala, precej razširjena je tudi teorija vrstnega reda, ki pravi, da se podjetja financirajo najprej z zadržanimi dobički, v kolikor je teh sredstev premalo še z dolgom ter le v skrajnem primeru z izdajo novega lastniškega kapitala. Tretja teorija, s katero sem se ukvarjal, je teorija tempiranja trga. Gre za teorijo, ki izbrano strukturo kapitala pripisuje prepričanju menedžerjev glede cene delnic podjetja, torej ali so precenjene ali podcenjene, v času iskanja novih virov financiranja. Ker tudi raziskave, ki sem jih v svojem delu diplomskega seminarja predstavil, v kar veliki meri podpirajo teorijo tehtanja in ker je možno odločanje v skladu s to teorijo tudi dobro simulirati, sem jo uporabil tudi za optimizacijo strukture kapitala podjetja Krka d.d., Novo mesto. Gre za podjetje, ki je z vidika strukture kapitala zelo zanimivo, saj se kljub temu, da je to v panogi redkost, financira skoraj izključno z lastniškim kapitalom. Zato sem simuliral zadolževanje podjetja in opazoval spreminjanje stroškov kapitala ter same vrednosti podjetja. Tekom analiziranja rezultatov sem prišel do zaključka, da bi bilo gotovo smiselno, da Krka v svojo strukturo kapitala uvede vsaj nekaj dolžniškega kapitala, saj bi to znižalo stroške financiranja podjetja ter povečalo vrednost delnic.The ratio between different types of capital - securities issued by a company to obtain sources of financing, is called the capital structure of a company. By choosing different debt-to-equity ratios, a company can positively (or even negatively) influence its value, as each type of financing has advantages and disadvantages. Debt capital financing lowers the tax base and thus helps to pay lower tax, while on the other hand the company commits to paying interest, which can lead to financial difficulties, the costs of which must also be considered when choosing the capital structure. However, since the value of the company can also be expressed as the present value of future cash flows, which are discounted by WACC, the impact of the capital structure on the value of the company can also be viewed in terms of financing costs. In this type of decision-making, leaders in companies "weigh" the positive and negative effects that borrowing brings to their company, and therefore we say that it is a matter of acting in accordance with the trade-off theory. However, this is not the only way to optimize the capital structure. The pecking order hypothesis, which is also quite popular, says that companies prefer to finance their operations first with retained earnings, if these funds are insufficient with debt and only in extreme cases by issuing new equity. The third theory I have been working on is the theory of market timing. It is a theory that attributes the chosen capital structure to the beliefs of managers regarding the price of the company\u27s shares, i.e., whether they are overvalued or undervalued at the time of the search for new sources of financing. Because the research I presented in my diploma paper largely supports the trade-off theory and because decision-making in accordance with this theory can be well simulated, I used it to optimize the capital structure of Krka d.d., Novo mesto. It is a company that is very interesting from the capital structure point of view, because even though this is a rarity in the industry, it is financed almost exclusively with equity. Therefore, I simulated the borrowing of the company and observed the change in the cost of capital and the value of the company itself. During the analysis of the results, I concluded that it would certainly make sense for Krka to introduce at least some debt into its capital structure, as this would reduce their cost of capital and increase the value of shares