Slight Improvement of Cash-Flow Ratio in Austrian Manufacturing

Our econometric estimates indicate that in 2005 Austrian manufacturing has achieved a cash-flow to sales ratio of about 9.7 percent, which is slightly higher than 2004. In the second half of 2005 demand growth accelerated, however the high price of oil seems to have impeded a more substantial improvement in prof-itability. International comparative data are available until the year 2004. During the period from 1995 to 2004 Austrian firms exhibit an average performance in terms of the cash-flow to sales ratio. Furthermore, Austrian manufacturing firms are catching-up towards the European average in terms of their average equity ratio.