Covid-19’s impact on Finnish companies’ investments – Measuring the effect from financial statements

Abstract

This thesis studies the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on investments made by Finnish companies with quantitative methods. The data set used in the study consists of financial statements originating from Dun & Bradstreet, supplemented by COVID-19 industry impact data presented by Koren & Pető, 2020.

Theory regarding COVID-19’s impact on company investments in this thesis is split into two channels; external drivers that work through increased uncertainty, and internal drivers where COVID-19 impacted teamwork which is relevant for investment decision processes.

Three hypotheses were formulated that propose investments were impacted by 2020 and that other financial factors as well as the amount of teamwork was relevant for investments. Regression analysis was chosen as the quantitative method for answering the research question.

The results indicate a decrease in investments due to the pandemic, with larger companies showing greater investment resilience, and teamwork-intensive industries indicating reduced investment levels. These results fall in line with previous research conducted on the topic.