What drives the dividend decisions in BRICS countries?

Research background: We examine the dividend payout policies across companies listed on the main stock exchanges in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS). Unlike the highly developed capital markets, the literature regarding dividend policy on BRICS? stock exchanges is scarce. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this paper is threefold: verification of the existence of dividend smoothing pattern; selection of the significant drivers that affect both dividend levels and dividend smoothing; examination of differences between dividend policy of cross- and single-listed companies. Methods: Based on a dataset of 564 companies that paid dividends for at least 11 consecutive years in the period of 1995?2015, we apply a GMM two-step estimator to assess the speed of dividend adjustment (SOA) coefficient. Further we employ the linear panel regression to indicate the individual and market determinants of the dividend levels and SOAs. In the latter case, we base on time series of the SOAs obtained from the rolling estimation technique. Finally, we conduct separate estimations for cross-listed companies. Findings & value added: We confirm a moderate level of dividend smoothing within BRICS countries. Among the firm-level characteristics affecting the SOA the most important are: ownership dispersion, age and size of a firm, retained earnings, leverage, long term debt, asset tangibility, liquidity risk ratio, and issuing the depositary receipts (DR). Two relevant market factors are found: market capitalisation and turnover in relation to GDP. Similar characteristics have a significant impact on dividends? levels in the entire sample, whereas in the subsample of cross-listed companies fewer variables are significant. Our paper is the first comprehensive attempt to investigate the dividend policy and determinants of dividend smoothing among BRICS countries.

Share price informativeness and dividend smoothing behavior in GCC markets

PurposeThis paper examines the dividend smoothing (DS) behaviour in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in emerging markets where the response to news and the economic environment are different from those of developed countries.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the effect of share price informativeness on DS in the GCC markets using unbalanced panel data for a sample of 628 GCC-listed firms during 1994–2016. For the regression analysis, the hypotheses are tested using panel regressions and generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation.FindingsFirst, the Lintner model shows that the DS degree in GCC firms is comparable to that of a developed market. Second, and importantly, the results reveal that the DS in GCC firms is sensitive to private information of share prices. Finally, the findings indicate that information asymmetry (IA) and agency-based models affect the tendency to smooth dividends in the GCC markets.Originality/valueThis study is the first study to measure the degree of DS using data for all GCC countries. The authors also identify other determinants of DS behaviour and test the agency and IA explanations for DS in GCC-listed firms. The findings are highly recommended to financial managers and analysts dealing with the GCC markets. This study helps financial analysts to use the share price informativeness as an indicator for the presence of the IA. The study results are beneficial to researchers in understanding the relationship between DS and share price informativeness.

Dividend policies of travel and leisure firms in the UK

Purpose This study aims to examine cash dividend practices of travel and leisure (T&L) companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Design/methodology/approach The study uses a panel data set of 524 firm-year observations of 55 unique publicly listed UK T&L companies between 2007 and 2019. First, it uses a modified version of Lintner’s (1956) partial adjustment model for analysis regarding the target payout ratio and dividend smoothing. Second, it performs logit and Tobit models in ascertaining the association between financial characteristics and divided decisions of T&L firms. Finally, it applies the modified specification of the partial adjustment model on different sub-samples that are partitioned based on various financial factors to determine how the financial characteristics of T&L companies affect their dividend behavior. Findings The results show that UK T&L companies have long-term payout ratios and adjust their cash dividends by moving gradually to their target at a serious degree of smoothing. The findings also detect that financial characteristics of T&L firms (i.e. profitability, debt and size) have significant effects on their dividend payments decisions. In particular, more profitable and larger T&L corporations are more likely to pay cash dividends, whereas T&L companies with more debt are less likely to pay cash dividends in the UK. The results further reveal that although such financial characteristics also have important impacts on the target payout ratios and dividend smoothing levels, UK T&L companies generally adopt stable dividend policies over the period 2007-2019. Originality/value This is thought to be the first study to provide insights on dividend policy practices of UK travel and leisure corporation listed on the LSE.

International evidence on stock returns and dividend growth predictability using dividend yields

ABSTRACT This paper examines stock returns and dividend growth predictability using dividend yields in seven developed markets: United States of America (US), United Kingdom (UK), Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Altogether, these countries account for around 85% of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) World Index. The use of the long time series with up-to-date data allows the comparison not only between countries, but also across periods, putting into perspective the existence or not of noticeable changes since the 1980’s. The majority of the literature on this topic is US-centered. This emphasis on the US is even more pronounced when it comes to examining the relationship between the dividend unpredictability and dividend smoothing. There is also the need to know if the relationships already documented for the post-Second World War (WWII) period still hold during the last three decades, when stock markets were subjected to a high level of turbulence worldwide. The relationship between dividend yields and returns and dividend growth is central to understand the functioning of capital markets, and has considerable implications for capital asset pricing and investment strategies. Overall, the results show that even for developed capital markets there is no clear pattern on the predictive ability of dividend yields on stock returns and dividend growth, instead these relationships seem to be time-dependent and country-specific. For each country, the predictive ability of the dividend yield is examined in a first-order structural VAR framework by applying bootstrap significance tests and the degree of dividend smoothing is assessed using four partial-adjustment models for the dividend behavior. Additionally, an out-of-sample analysis is conducted using pseudo-R2 and a normal mean squared prediction error (MSPE) adjusted statistic. For the post-WWII period, returns are predictable, but dividends are unpredictable in the US and the UK, while the opposite pattern is observed in Spain and Italy. In Germany, there is some evidence of short-term predictability for both returns and dividends, while in France only returns are predictable. In Japan, neither variable can be forecasted. The dividend smoothing results show that dividends are more persistent in the US and the UK, however, there is no clear connection between dividend smoothness and predictability for the other countries. An important conclusion to retain from the out-of-sample analysis is that the predictability of returns after the WWII, especially present in the US, appeared to have been missing in the last three decades, most probably due to the turmoil experienced by the stock markets during this last period.

Mandatory Dividend Policy, Growth, Liquidity and Corporate Governance: Evidence from Chile

Chilean publicly listed companies are required by law to pay out a minimum 30% of distributable earnings after taxes as dividends on common stock. The study extends Lintner’s [Lintner, J (1956). Distribution of incomes of corporations among dividend retained earnings and taxes. American Economic Review, 46, 97–113.] model of dividend smoothing and Banerjee [Banerjee, S, VA Gatchev and PA Spindt (2007). Stock market liquidity and firm dividend policy. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 42(2), 369–398.] logistic model of the likelihood of a firm paying a dividend to investigate the signaling, liquidity, corporate governance, and information risk-based theories of dividends. The results show that Chilean firms’ excess dividends are smoothed in relation to the prior period level of excess dividends, and lagged earnings do not drive excess dividends even though the mandatory minimum dividend is defined in terms of lagged earnings. This insight establishes that dividend decisions regarding the size of the excess dividend and the likelihood of paying an excess dividend are distinct from the mandatory dividend payment. Additionally, the size of excess dividends and their likelihood are higher at firms with higher growth opportunities, a result consistent with the use of excess dividends as a signaling device. Results also demonstrate that greater transparency is associated with a greater likelihood of paying an excess dividend, but transparency does not drive policy regarding the size of the excess dividend. Moreover, the corporate governance mechanism creditor monitoring influences the size of excess dividends but not the likelihood of paying excess dividends. These results have implications for securities regulators evaluating the pros and cons of a mandatory dividend policy to protect minority shareholders in emerging markets.