The Impact of Working Capital Management on the Profitability of CAC 40 Companies in a Context of Crisis

Wissem AJILI BEN YOUSSEF * Professeure associée en finance, EM Normandie Business School.Contact : wajilibenyoussef@em-normandie.fr

Emma ROZET ** Credit officer-credit management, Eramet. Contact : emma.rozet@gmail.com

This article analyzes the impact of working capital requirement (WCR) management on profitability in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

The study examines the performance of 24 CAC 40 companies from 2017 to 2021. Profitability is measured by two indicators – return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). The cash conversion cycle is used to analyze WCR. We used Kendal's coefficient to study the correlations between the different variables.

Our results confirm that there is a significant correlation between working capital and profitability. However, this relationship changed during the Covid-19 crisis. The impact of customer payment delays on profitability increased. The study concludes that WCR management can be a factor of resilience in times of crisis.