FIRMS’ CHARACTERISTICS AND DIVIDEND PAYMENT OF QUOTED CONSUMER GOODS COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine firms’ characteristics and dividend payment of quoted consumer goods companies in Nigeria. The study was prompted by the fact that there are other attributes that influence dividend payment aside from the level of profitability made by quoted companies in different accounting periods. More attention has been placed on the level of profitability made by a company to influence dividend payment with limited attention on other attributes presented on financial statements of quoted companies. Thus, there is a need to assess the direction of firms’ specific characteristics on dividend payment of companies. Ex-post facto design was employed in the study because it required secondary data. Cash Flow (CF) and Liquidity (LQ) were selected measures of firms’ characteristics with Dividend Pay-out Ratio (DPR) taken as a measure of dividend payment. Board Size (BS) was the control variable chosen for the study. The population of the study was twenty-two (22) consumer goods companies whose shares were traded on Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) as at 31st December 2023. Seventeen (17) quoted consumer goods companies were sampled on the basis of availability of data in accordance with the relevant variables. Data required were collected from the sampled companies for the period of 2013 to 2022. The nature of data was panel data. Descriptive statistics and panel linear regression (fixed effect) statistical tools were used to analyze the data collected for the study. The result of the analysis revealed that CF and LQ had positive and significant influence on DPR of quoted consumer goods companies in Nigeria. From the findings, the researchers concluded that firm-specific characteristics had positive and significant influence on dividend payment of quoted consumer goods companies in Nigeria. It was recommended that the policies of credits in quoted consumer goods companies in Nigeria should be adjusted for the purpose of generating cash inflows from operating activities to influence payment of dividends positively.