The distribution of net profit is one of the basic problems of the financial strategy of companies. The amount of retained earnings affects the level of investment and the pace of their development, whereas the level of dividends translates into stock prices. Therefore, it is assumed that maintaining the right proportions in the distribution of net profit into the retained part and the part transferred to the shareholders will translate into the company’s value. The first part of the paper contains theoretical considerations on macroeconomic, microeconomic and the capital market determinants influencing companies’ distribution of net profit. A large group of microeconomic factors – long-term trends in changes of net profit, shareholder structure, the company’s life cycle and its investment opportunities – as well as a selection of financing sources facilitating the attainment of the optimal capital structure are discussed. The most important macroeconomic factors include the economic situation, the level of inflation, sector specifics and the situation on the stock market. The authors present the results of empirical research in which they assume that the dividend yield of companies from the oil and gas sector influences the value of the company depending on the level of investments shaping the book value of shares, and that the dividend yield affects the duration of the return on capital expressed as the price to net profit ratio, and thus the level of company risk. The calculated Pearson linear correlation coefficients show an insignificant influence of the dividend yield on the value of companies from the oil and gas sector. This value is determined by a number of other factors. The study is based on statistical data for 2010–2020 derived from Warsaw Stock Exchange Yearbooks.

The paper presents areas where the EBITDA measure is used in coal companies. The metric and the ratios where it is utilized are employed to assess companies and management efficiency, hence they are used as criteria for rewarding board members. EBITDA-based ratios are also used to evaluate the profitability of company restructuring and its goodwill in mergers and acquisitions. EBITDA, also tends to be used to value companies on the capital market. It is a good tool for efficiency assessment in coal companies with relatively stable fixed assets and small share of intangible assets, which amortized over short periods of time could interfere the comparability of relations based on this measure. The comparability is also disturbed by large investment expenditure incurred in the short term. This does not apply to the mining industry, in which investment cycles are long, last several years and expenditures are spread over time. In addition, the rate of technical progress imposing the need to implement large technology projects is not high compared to technology companies with high development dynamics.

EBITDA based ratios were used to assess a number of listed coal companies. The analysis revealed that the profit/loss of these companies is mainly determined by coal prices. The cost of coal mining is 90% fixed and projects undertaken to reduce it bear fruit only over the long term. Cyclically changing coal prices cause major losses in companies when prices are low, which leads to bankruptcies or a need to restructure. After a period of decline in 2014–2016, the profit/loss of Polish coal companies as well as companies from around the world improved in 2017–2018. T he financial standing of Polish companies was better than that of their counterparts from other parts of the world.