Working Capital Management and Profitability under an Economic Crisis: Evidence from Commercial Companies in Greece

The main scope of this study is to investigate the relationship between working capital and profitability for companies that are active in the commercial sector, at least as one of their main activities, listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. This study attempts to contribute to the existing literature by focusing on the years 2014-2018, an economic crisis period that has a substantial impact on the financial data of the Greek commercial industry. The results show that the inventory conversion cycle, average collection period of short-term receivables, cash conversion cycle variables have a negative and statistically significant relationship with profitability. Instead, the average repayment period of short-term liabilities, circulation liquidity, direct liquidity, the size of the company and its growth is positively related to profitability. Finally, the effect of leverage on profitability is not significant.