The energy market is evolving, with a prediction of heavily increased consumption and, consequently, increased production. In parallel, EU directives with targets prioritising fossil-free electricity production, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and becoming climate neutral by 2050, poses a challenge for the current state of electricity production in the Nordics. In managing these predictions, the electricity production from renewable energy sources is required to be increased threefold by 2045. Consequently, the share of intermittent energy sources is deemed to heavily increase, resulting in need of more capacity of energy storage, ancillary services and balancing of the grid. Energy storage systems, such as pumped storage hydropower, can play a crucial role in this energy market transition. However, pumped storage hydropower has yet to be fully explored or proven viable for large-scale investments in the Nordics. In this thesis, the viability and profitability of pumped storage hydropower plants in the Nordics are investigated. The viability assessment was conducted through a SWOT analysis based on a summary of literature and interviews within a PESTLE framework. The interviewees consisted of experts active in different fields of work at Fortum, with knowledge relevant for the purpose of this thesis. To assess the profitability, an investment analysis tool for pumped storage hydropower plants was created in MathWork’s MATLAB, focusing on one of Fortum’s already existing pumped storage hydropower plants. The investment analysis tool was built for several cases with fixed operating schedules using a weekly timeframe.  Through the SWOT analysis, potential challenges for pumped storage hydropower were found in investment costs, topology dependence, development of nuclear power production and increased difficulty in obtaining greenfield permits. Regarding opportunities, Fortum’s pumped storage hydropower plants were found to be favourably and strategically located in SE3, beneficial in generating income from different revenue streams as well as highly beneficial in assisting the development of Sweden’s future energy market. The results obtained from the investment analysis tool indicated that market volatility plays a crucial role in determining the profitability of pumped storage hydropower projects. In a highly volatile market, there is a great possibility to yield large amounts of profit. However, to fully maximise profit, especially in a low volatility market, constant optimisation of pumped storage hydropower operations through advanced forecasting and modelling is crucial.

Relative used capital price, the measure of irreversibility, is fixed in almost all the investment literature. This dissertation introduces investment models with state-dependent irreversibility and tests whether these models outperform fixed irreversibility cases, at both the macro and micro levels. Since there is currently no historical data available on the issue of used capital prices, the first chapter uses an indirect inference procedure to estimate the cyclical property of irreversibility at the micro-level. In the second chapter, I propose a dynamic investment model with endogenous irreversibility arising from the lemons problem in the used capital market and examine the cyclical implication of irreversibility. Data evidence shows that capital reallocation, or used capital expenditure, is pro-cyclical. In a general equilibrium framework, the third chapter reveals that the investment model with state-dependent irreversibility explains this phenomenon while the model with fixed irreversibility does not. / text

This thesis is focused on the design and optimization of automated trading system, which will be traded in FOREX. The aim is to create a business strategy that is relatively safe, stable and profitable. Optimization and testing on historical data are a prerequisite for the deployment into real trading.

The main focus of the thesis are approaches to technical analysis, trading systems and it summarizes interesting findings, according to which a FOREX automated trading system was designed and implemented. Optimization and testing were a prerequisite for a real-world deployment, so the automated trading system was tested on historical data and some of its input parameters were optimized for maximum stability and profit.

[pt] Finanças Corporativas tem como objetivo encontrar a política de investimentos e financiamentos que maximize o valor para o acionista. Baseada no modelo estático de Modigliani e Miller, a literatura recente apresenta modelos dinâmicos que buscam maior aderência à realidade. No entanto, para obter uma metodologia de solução computacionalmente tratável, duas simplificações são usualmente adotadas: (i) agentes financeiros são neutros a risco; (ii) custo de financiamento são fixos e independentes da alavancagem da empresa. Neste trabalho, é proposto um modelo de programação dinâmica estocástica para a determinação da política ótima de investimentos e financiamentos considerando acionistas avessos a risco e empresas que enfrentam incerteza na receita e custos marginais de financiamentos não-decrescentes com o nível de alavancagem da empresa. O modelo proposto é resolvido de maneira eficiente utilizando o algoritmo de Programação Dinâmica Dual Estocástica. Ao final do trabalho, são realizados estudos empíricos e análises de sensibilidade para melhor compreensão das políticas de investimentos e financiamentos das corporações. / [en] Corporate Finance is the study of investment and financing policies in order to maximize shareholder value. Based on the static model of Modigliani and Miller, recent literature presents dynamic models that seek greater adherence to reality. However, to obtain a computationally treatable solution methodology, two simplifications are usually adopted: (i) financial agents are risk neutral; (ii) cost of financing is static and independent of the company s leverage. In this work, a dynamic stochastic programming model is proposed to determine the optimum investment and financing policy, considering risk-averse shareholders and companies that face uncertainty on income and non-decreasing marginal costs of financing. The proposed model is efficiently solved using the Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming algorithm. At the end of the study, empirical studies and sensitivity analyzes are carried out to the better understanding of corporate investment and financing policies.

Innovation has been considered the critical driver behind economic growth and value creation for a long time. However, in order to achieve an innovative status, the commercializing of an invention is required by injecting capital and strategy. While capital comes in many forms, this thesis focuses on the field of venture capital and how this type of financial backing can be analyzed and managed. Herein, the company characteristics continuum is presented, where business model innovation and technological innovation represent the two extremities. The purpose was then to investigate if there are significant differences in the venture capitalists' investment models as one moves along the aforementioned continuum. Semi-structured interviews were used and interpreted independently by the authors, with respect to coding units, in order to enhance objectivity. The thesis mainly targeted the information technology industry, where analysis was conducted on four of the largest actors on the Nordic venture capital market. The Nordic focus, combined with the rapidly moving industry, resulted in that significant differences, in the venture capitalists' investment models, were identified; giving implications both for theory and practice. These differences were identified as stemming from the initially adopted risk profiles, which then affected all other areas of the investment models. / Innovation har länge ansetts vara den kritiska drivkraften bakom ekonomisk tillväxt och värdeskapande. Emellertid, för att uppnå en innovativ status, krävs kommersialisering av en uppfinning genom att tillföra kapital och strategi. Kapital existerar i flera olika former, dock fokuserar denna uppsats på området riskkapital, och hur denna typ av finansiell backning kan analyseras och hanteras. Häri presenteras kontinuumet för företagskaraktäristik, där innovation inom affärsmodeller och teknik representerar de två ändpunkterna. Syftet var att undersöka om det fanns signifikanta skillnader mellan riskkapitalisters investeringsmodeller, när ett företag rör sig längs det ovan nämnda kontinuumet. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer användes och tolkades oberoende av författarna, genom att använda kodord, för att förbättra objektiviteten. Uppsatsen berör främst företag inom industrin för informationsteknologi, där analys har gjorts på fyra av de största aktörerna inom marknaden för riskkapital i Norden. Ett Nordiskt fokus, kombinerat med en hastigt utvecklande industri, resulterade i att signifikanta skillnader, i riskkapitalisters investeringsmodeller, identifierades; vilket gav implikationer för både teori och praktik. Dessa skillnader identifierades att härstamma från de initialt anammade riskprofilerna, som sedan påverkade alla andra områden inom investeringsmodellen.