Financial Performance Evaluation of China's Listed Steel Companies from Creditors' Perspective

摘要

Due to the impact of the global financial turmoil and the rising cost of iron ore, the rise in share prices of the iron and steel sector in 2006 and 2007 and drop in 2008 has raised a great deal of concern among creditors about the performance of China's listed steel companies. This paper attempts to identify the concerns of the creditors through questionnaires, and elicit the financial status and developing trend of the listed steel companies by performing model verification (e.g. Principal Component Analysis) to process and interpret the data from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges for the last three years. With the 38 listed steel companies divided into six groups, creditors are then able to better make credit decisions, control credit scale and credit cycle so as to ensure the safety and efficiency of the credit capital. The results also provide the evidence that the equity structure and capital structure of the listed steel companies needs improvement and optimization.