This research analyses the drivers of firm profitability by examining the impact of environmental, social and governance (cdESG) scores along with firm and country-specific variables on a sample of 428 publicly quoted European companies. According to the mechanism that is examined in this research, organizations' profitability should increase because of adhering to ESG standards, luring investors and enhancing the financial markets. To evaluate the relationship between firm profitability and ESG performance together with other profitability determinants, we estimate two regressions in which return on assets (ROA) and profit margin (PM) are taken as profitability measures. Results show that ESG scores positively and significantly affect firm profitability - both ROA (return on assets) and PM (profit margin). When it comes to firm-specific variables, debt ratio, cash flow to operating revenues, asset turnover and share of research and development, we find that expenditures in operating revenues significantly affect firm profitability, while firm growth, age and size have not been found as significant determinants of firm profitability. Results also show that GDP per capita, which is used as a country specific variable and represents country economic development, did not prove to be significant. This implies that there are no significant differences in firm profitability of publicly quoted European companies that report ESG scores concerning their country of origin.