The Existence and Disclosure of Intangibles versus Corporate Financial Performance in French Mergers & Acquisitions

Abstract

Aiming for superior performance, companies need to have and skillfully use rare, valuable, irreplaceable and inimitable resources, with special emphasis on intangibles, constructed in lengthy and risky processes or strategically accumulated via mergers and acquisitions (M&A). To analyze how the financial performance, after 36 months of M&A, is related to the previous existence/disclosure of intangibles, we built textual-based indicators of disclosure and use financial measures of intangibles to compare their explanatory power for growth and corporate profitability. Using Structural Equations, via Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS), we find positive relations among these indicators, validating the strategic option for the M&A.

Keywords: indicators of disclosure of intangibles on a textual basis, financial indicators of existence of intangibles, mergers and acquisitions, financial performance

JEL Classification: C33, D21, D23, D46, I20, I21, I22, M20, M21