Maturity mismatch, interest-bearing leverage, and short-term financial vulnerability: Evidence from Vietnam’s listed electricity firms
Abstract
Listed electricity firms in Vietnam often face a timing problem in financing. The assets they build and operate last for many years, but part of the debt used to finance them may mature much earlier. This study examines whether that maturity gap, together with interest-bearing leverage and operating cash flow, is associated with short-term financial vulnerability. The analysis uses 31 electricity firms listed on HOSE and HNX during 2016–2025, giving an unbalanced panel of 295 firm-year observations. Model estimation relies on firm fixed effects, year controls, and clustered standard errors. The dependent variable for short-term vulnerability is the current ratio; accordingly, a lower ratio explicitly indicates greater vulnerability. Market-based and book-based Z-scores are applied for robustness checks. The estimates show that higher maturity mismatch is associated with a lower current ratio. The interaction with operating cash flow is not statistically supported. Interest-bearing leverage appears more clearly in the two Z-score robustness models, rather than in the current-ratio models. The lagged specification does not show that these effects persist beyond the current period. Therefore, assessing financial vulnerability in the electricity sector requires analytical separation of debt maturity timing from the aggregate debt stock.