Dividend relevance during financial crisis: A study of quoted Nigerian Banks
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Date
2013
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Department of Business Administration, Adamawa State University, Mubi
Abstract
Dividend relevance suggests that dividend policies have effects on market value of the firm as reflected in their share prices. The study examined whether this relevance is maintained during financial crisis. The study covered banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange during the period of 2008 to 2009 as it is believed that they account for huge portion of the dividend payments. Data was sourced majorly from the DataStream (Thomson Reuter’s Worldscope database). A model was formulated to test whether the dividend payout policies of banks influence their share prices during crisis period using market price per share as the dependent variable and dividend payout ratio as the main independent variable. It was revealed that dividend payout ratio is positively and significantly related to share prices during the crisis period. Thus, dividend relevance holds even during financial turmoil. Based on this, it was recommended that firms should not use crisis period as an opportunity to cut or omit dividends as it may impact negatively on their market value although such cut or omission may be necessary for strategic reasons in some situations.
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Keywords
Dividend, Financial Crisis, Quoted Banks