<p>Dividend policy has significant impact on the company's capital market, in particular the dynamics of the price of its shares. Dividends represent cash income of shareholders and to some extent, signal them about success of the firm they have invested. From that point of view dividend policy has crucial impact on investment decisions.</p><p>Numbers of valuation models based on dividend payouts exist in the financial theory and they imply importance of dividends in making investment decisions. Alternatively some authors argue that role of the dividends is overestimated, as investors do not separate dividends and capital earnings. I believe that dividend policy has broad influence not only on share valuation, but also on capital structure of the company and its stock market liquidity.</p><p>Study intended to discover if dividend payouts and future earnings can be predicted based on stock market liquidity and capital structure. I have analysed 72 companies associated with Nordic information technologies market and tried to find main characteristics of dividend policy adopted in those companies. I have divided my research question into three parts and studied hypotheses which are associated with the research question.</p><p>I found relationship of dividend policies with future earnings growth power, firm capital structure and market liquidity. As a result of my study I have observed financial statements data and obtained the following outcome: (1) with stable dividend policy, payout ratio is positively related to the future earnings growth rate (2) companies that have less liquid stock markets are more likely to pay dividends (3) companies with low leverage ratios have more probability of paying dividends. Also I have found that historically low payout ratio is harbinger of low or even negative earnings growth rates.</p><p>I believe that based on findings mentioned above, effective investment policy could be created. For the investor who favours to invest in company with high earnings growth perspectives and receive high dividends in the future, results of the study could be interesting. According to the results of the research, for “dividend preferring” investor, funds should be invested in the company with constantly high payout ratio, low stock market liquidity and debt-to-equity ratio below 1. In that case the probability of meeting investment expectations would be much higher.</p>

This thesis contain three chapters. Default Risk in Corporate Bond Pricing. This chapter provides a model for how the corporate bond default risk influences the systematic risk and an empirical analysis of the systematic and idiosyncratic parts of U.S. corporate bond returns during 2001-2005. The average corporate bond beta is low and positive (0.06). Investment grade bonds have negative betas (between - 0.01 and -0.13) and non-investment grade bonds have positive betas (between 0.11 and 1.48), but both groups have similar within groups systematic risks. When controls for interest rate and liquidity risks are introduced there are still remaining default probabilities, implying that the default risk is in part systematic and in part idiosyncratic.   Returns to Defaulted Corporate Bonds.   In the second chapter short term excess returns in a sample of 279 defaulted US corporate bonds are tested for using multiple regression analysis. There are robust excess returns after controlling for market and liquidity risk. The expected recovery rate during 2001-2006 is estimated to be, on average, four percentage points lower the first month after default than the present value of the recovery rate after nine months. Capital Structure Choices.   The trade-off and pecking order theories are tested using both established tests from the literature and new tests. The main contributions of this chapter are the new tests of financing of operating net assets (for the pecking order theory), the mean reversion tests (for the trade-off theory) and the test of mean reversion and trends. These tests allow for extended conclusions on the validity of the pecking order versus the tradeoff theory. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2008 Sammanfattning jämte 3 uppsatser</p>

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Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och analysera om det finns något samband mellan företags lönsamhet och dess kapitalstruktur, storlek eller branschtillhörigheten. Detta innebär att en empirisk studie kommer att ske på soliditet, omsättning samt branschtillhörigheten för att se hur och om det finns något samband mellan lönsamheten och dessa tre faktorer. Vidare är syftet även att undersöka om det kan finnas något samband mellan företags lönsamhet och företags standardavvikelse på räntabilitet. Metod: Undersökningen är en empirisk studie med en deduktiv kvantitativ och kvalitativ ansats. Empirin undersöks med olika statistiska metoder såsom regressionsanalys och korrelationsberäkning. Teori: Uppsatsen har utgått från teorier gällande kapitalstruktur och lönsamhet. Nyckeltalen som används från dessa teorier är soliditet respektive räntabilitet på eget kapital. Empiri: Data från de 20 största börsnoterade företagen på Stockholmsbörsen har samlats in från företagens årsredovisningar 2003-2007. Den data som tagits fram är data på företagens lönsamhet (räntabilitet på eget kapital), kapitalstruktur (soliditet), storlek (omsättning), samt lönsamhet för företag utöver de 20 valda företagens, detta för att användas i analysen av branschtillhörigheten. Resultat: Resultatet av undersökningen visar att det inte finns något signifikant samband mellan vare sig företags kapitalstruktur och lönsamheten, företagsstorlek och lönsamheten, branschtillhörigheten för ett företag och lönsamheten eller standardavvikelse på räntabilitet och lönsamhet. / Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to analyze the potential correlation between corporate profitability and corporate capital structure, corporate size, and corporate line of business. An empirical study will be done on solidity, turnover and on the line of business to determine if a correlation exists between profitability and these factors. The purpose is also to examine if there is a correlation between the corporate profitabilty and standard deviation of the corporations return on equity. Method: The survey is an empirical study employing a deductive quantitative and qualitative approach. The empirics are examined with statistical methods such as regression analysis and calculation of correlation. Theory: The essay uses theories about capital structure and profitability. The key numbers that have been used from these theories are solidity and return on equity. Empirics: Data from the 20 largest public corporations on the Stockholm stock market collected from their respective annual 2003-2007 reports. This includes data about corporate profitability (return on equity), capital structure (solidity), size (turnover), and the profitability of corporations beyond the 20 chosen ones, this to be used in the analyze of corporations within the specific line of business. Result: This survey shows that there is no significant correlation between corporate capital structure and the profitability, corporate size and the profitability, line of business of a corporation and the profitability or standard deviation of the corporations return on equity and the profitability.

Sverige genomförde vid årsskiftet 2012/2013 ytterligare en sänkning av bolagsskatten. Denna gång från 26,3 till 22 procent. Målet med sänkningen var att hamna under EU’s genomsnittliga bolagsskattenivå vilket skulle minska företags incitament till att fly Sverige för lågskatteländer. Samtidigt ville regeringen minska företagens skuldsättningsgrad. I teorin sjunker värdet på skatteskölden vid en bolagsskattesänkning och därmed också värdet på företagen. Från företagens och ägarnas perspektiv innebär sänkt skatt högre nettovinst och således en högre utdelning. Hur reagerar marknaden? Ett försök att besvara frågan görs genom att gruppera företagen efter skuldsättningsgrad och undersöka vad som händer med aktierna under den dag nyheten om bolagsskattesänkningen publiceras. Detta undersöks genom en eventstudie vilken avgränsas till Norden och andra marknader med liknande finansiellt system samt liknande lagstiftning. Till grund för undersökningen ligger aktier representerade på Stockholm OMX Large Cap. Studien finner en signifikant positivt reaktion sett till hela marknaden när nyheten om bolagsskattesänkningen blir offentlig. Vid indelning efter skuldsättningsgrad visar företagen med lägst skuldsättning den högsta positiva reaktionen, medan företagen med högst skuldsättning visar en negativ reaktion, dock inte signifikant. / At the end of 2012 Sweden implemented a further reduction in corporation tax, this time from 26.3 to 22 percent. The goal of the reduction was to reach a lower corporate tax level then the EU’s average. This would reduce the company’s incentive to flee Sweden for low-tax countries. At the same time, the Swedish Government wanted to reduce the debt ratio. In theory, the value of the tax shield is lowered and hence the value of the companies. From corporate and shareholder perspective this reduced tax means higher net income and thus a higher dividend. How does the market react? An attempt to answer this question is made by splitting the companies by leverage and examine what happened to the shares on the day the news of the company tax cut was published. This is examined through an event study, which is bounded to the Nordic countries and to other markets with similar financial systems and similar legislation. The study is based on shares represented at the Stockholm OMX Large Cap. The study finds a significant positive reaction over the entire market when the news about the corporate tax becomes public. On account of the debt-equity ratio, the firms with the lowest leverage show the highest positive response, while the companies with the highest debt show a negative reaction, however not a significant one.

This paper describes and develops a trade off model of optimal capital structure by Bradley et al. (1984). The model is then tested to examine how changes in corporate tax rates affect the optimal capital structure of firms. Based on theoretical implications of the model, four hypotheses are derived stating that firms’ optimal debt-to-value ratio is (1) negatively related to financial distress costs, (2) negatively related to non-debt tax shields, (3) negatively related to firm volatility and (4) positively related to the corporate tax rate. Based on the results of two regression models applied on 753 Scandinavian and German firms, we find empirical support for hypothesis 1 and 3 while we find no empirical support for hypothesis 2 and 4. These results can be explained by problematic empirical proxies and in the light of the pecking-order theory.

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Dividend policy has significant impact on the company's capital market, in particular the dynamics of the price of its shares. Dividends represent cash income of shareholders and to some extent, signal them about success of the firm they have invested. From that point of view dividend policy has crucial impact on investment decisions. Numbers of valuation models based on dividend payouts exist in the financial theory and they imply importance of dividends in making investment decisions. Alternatively some authors argue that role of the dividends is overestimated, as investors do not separate dividends and capital earnings. I believe that dividend policy has broad influence not only on share valuation, but also on capital structure of the company and its stock market liquidity. Study intended to discover if dividend payouts and future earnings can be predicted based on stock market liquidity and capital structure. I have analysed 72 companies associated with Nordic information technologies market and tried to find main characteristics of dividend policy adopted in those companies. I have divided my research question into three parts and studied hypotheses which are associated with the research question. I found relationship of dividend policies with future earnings growth power, firm capital structure and market liquidity. As a result of my study I have observed financial statements data and obtained the following outcome: (1) with stable dividend policy, payout ratio is positively related to the future earnings growth rate (2) companies that have less liquid stock markets are more likely to pay dividends (3) companies with low leverage ratios have more probability of paying dividends. Also I have found that historically low payout ratio is harbinger of low or even negative earnings growth rates. I believe that based on findings mentioned above, effective investment policy could be created. For the investor who favours to invest in company with high earnings growth perspectives and receive high dividends in the future, results of the study could be interesting. According to the results of the research, for “dividend preferring” investor, funds should be invested in the company with constantly high payout ratio, low stock market liquidity and debt-to-equity ratio below 1. In that case the probability of meeting investment expectations would be much higher.

Die vorliegende kumulative Dissertationsschrift beschäftigt sich mit theoretischen Fragestellungen der Finanzwissenschaft im Bereich des Asset Pricing und im Detail der Unternehmensbewertung. Dabei wird sowohl auf Problemstellungen der akademischen und praxisnahen Forschung eingegangen. Der erste Artikel beschäftigt sich mit der Fragestellung welche Implikationen die Annahme einer arithmetischen Brownschen Bewegung auf bestimmte Aspekte der Unternehmensbewertung hat. Es folgen drei Artikel die sich auf unterschiedlicher Weise mit der Zinsschrankenregelung auseinandersetzen. Die darauf folgenden zwei Artikel behandeln hauptsächlich die Modellierung von Insolvenz im Rahmen der Unternehmensbewertung bei Annahme verschiedener Finanzierungspolitiken. Der achte Artikel geht näher auf die Thematik der empirischen Bestätigung bestimmter Kapitalstrukturtheorien ein. Die Dissertation schließt mit einem Artikel zu wichtigen Parametern für die Unternehmensbewertung.

Die vorliegende kumulative Dissertationsschrift beschäftigt sich mit finanzwissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen im Bereich der Unternehmensbewertung. Dabei wurden aktuelle Themen diskutiert, die in Theorie oder Praxis ungelöste Probleme darstellen. Hervorzuheben ist an dieser Stelle, dass sich die ersten drei Artikel mit dem Werteinfluss der Zinsschanke auf den Wert von fremdfinanzierungsbedingten Steuerersparnissen (Tax Shield) beschäftigen. Die drei darauf folgenden Artikel beschäftigen sich schwerpunktmäßig mit der konsistenten Modellierung von Finanzierungspolitiken und dem Werteinfluss der Insolvenzmöglichkeit von Unternehmen. Der siebte und achte Artikel haben die Kapitalstruktur und weitere wichtige Parameter für die Unternehmensbewertung zum Thema.