Comparison of Financial Performance of Logistics Companies During and Before COVID-19 Period via CILOS-ARAS Method

Creative Commons License

Baysal Y. V.

Trends in business and economics (Online), cilt.40, sa.3, ss.503-520, 2026 (TRDizin)

Özet

The logistics sector has a critical position in economies in terms of the continuity of global trade and the effective functioning of supply chains. The role of this sector, with the COVID-19 pandemic, has become even more evident and measuring the financial resilience of businesses has gained importance. In this study, the financial performances of the companies in the BIST transportation and logistics index were analyzed comparatively for the pre-pandemic (2017-2018-2019) and pandemic period (2020-2021-2022). A total of 21 financial ratios were grouped under five groups: liquidity, activity, profitability, financial structure and market performance and they were used in the study, Criteria weights were determined using the CILOS method, and then the financial performance rankings of the companies were created using the ARAS method. The results showed that the main factors determining performance in the pre-pandemic period were profitability and asset utilization efficiency; however, during the pandemic period, cost control, debt management, and market value preservation became more decisive. In addition, it was found that companies focusing on road transportation rose in the rankings during the pandemic period, while companies that operate passenger-focused experienced a loss in performance. The study revealed that crisis periods in the logistics sector reshaped financial decision variables and served as a guide for future studies.