IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijmfpp/ijmf-10-2020-0516.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The flexibility of corporate payouts vis-à-vis capital investment: some UK evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Ioannis Chasiotis
  • Andreas G. Georgantopoulos

Abstract

Purpose - This study investigates the relative flexibility of payouts vis-à-vis investment in the UK, motivated by concerns regarding this market's distinct payout characteristics and limited relevant research. It addresses the information gap related to the use of conditional mean estimations and examines firm behavior across the investment distribution. Design/methodology/approach - The sample is an unbalanced panel of 6,173 firm-year observations, from 271 non-financial firms in the FTSE-All Share Index, during 1990–2019. Estimation methods include pooled- ordinary least squares (OLS) and firm fixed-effects regressions as well as unconditional quantile regressions with firm fixed effects. Findings - For the “average” firm results show a negative relationship between share repurchases and investment, amplified in the presence of financial constraints and growth opportunities. Quantile regressions analysis reveals heterogeneous firm behavior as this relationship becomes stronger in successive quantiles of the investment distribution and disappears at the upper/lower extremes. Results suggest that UK firms exploit the inherent flexibility of share repurchases to facilitate investment. However, this flexibility appears irrelevant to firms with extremely high/low investment, characterized by significant differences in growth opportunities, cash flows and external financing cost. Dividends and investment are independent across the investment distribution, underlining the rigidity of dividends in the UK. Originality/value - To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relative flexibility of payouts vis-à-vis investment in the UK, using firm-level financial data and at points other than the conditional mean. Its value lies in that it shows that share repurchases facilitate rather than impede investment and thus do not corroborate relevant concerns by economists and policymakers. Additionally, by utilizing a relatively new methodology it uncovered heterogeneous firm behavior across the investment distribution suggesting that conditional mean estimations should be applied with caution at least for highly heterogeneous samples.

Suggested Citation

  • Ioannis Chasiotis & Andreas G. Georgantopoulos, 2021. "The flexibility of corporate payouts vis-à-vis capital investment: some UK evidence," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(1), pages 181-201, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijmfpp:ijmf-10-2020-0516
    DOI: 10.1108/IJMF-10-2020-0516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJMF-10-2020-0516/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJMF-10-2020-0516/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/IJMF-10-2020-0516?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    3. Hubbard, R Glenn & Kashyap, Anil K & Whited, Toni M, 1995. "International Finance and Firm Investment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(3), pages 683-701, August.
    4. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:1:p:313-333 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Fattouh, Bassam & Scaramozzino, Pasquale & Harris, Laurence, 2005. "Capital structure in South Korea: a quantile regression approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 231-250, February.
    6. Markowitz, Sara & Adams, E. Kathleen & Lewitt, Mary Jane & Dunlop, Anne L., 2017. "Competitive effects of scope of practice restrictions: Public health or public harm?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 201-218.
    7. Bijan J. Borah & Anirban Basu, 2013. "Highlighting Differences Between Conditional And Unconditional Quantile Regression Approaches Through An Application To Assess Medication Adherence," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(9), pages 1052-1070, September.
    8. H. Kent Baker & Samir Saadi & Shantanu Dutta & Devinder Gandhi, 2007. "The perception of dividends by Canadian managers: new survey evidence," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 3(1), pages 70-91, January.
    9. Brav, Alon & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Michaely, Roni, 2005. "Payout policy in the 21st century," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 483-527, September.
    10. Nicolai T. Borgen, 2016. "Fixed effects in unconditional quantile regression," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 16(2), pages 403-415, June.
    11. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    12. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    13. Carpenter, Robert E. & Guariglia, Alessandra, 2008. "Cash flow, investment, and investment opportunities: New tests using UK panel data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1894-1906, September.
    14. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    15. Steve Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Financial constraints and company investment," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, May.
    16. Acharya, Viral V. & Sundaram, Rangarajan K. & John, Kose, 2011. "Cross-country variations in capital structures: The role of bankruptcy codes," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 25-54, January.
    17. Bliss, Barbara A. & Cheng, Yingmei & Denis, David J., 2015. "Corporate payout, cash retention, and the supply of credit: Evidence from the 2008–2009 credit crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(3), pages 521-540.
    18. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    19. Almeida, Heitor & Fos, Vyacheslav & Kronlund, Mathias, 2016. "The real effects of share repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 168-185.
    20. Banyi, Monica L. & Dyl, Edward A. & Kahle, Kathleen M., 2008. "Errors in estimating share repurchases," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 460-474, September.
    21. Tehmina Khan, 2006. "Company Dividends and Ownership Structure: Evidence from UK Panel Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 172-189, March.
    22. H. Baker & Gary Powell & E. Veit, 2002. "Revisiting managerial perspectives on dividend policy," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 26(3), pages 267-283, September.
    23. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    24. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    25. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    26. Aivazian, Varouj A. & Ge, Ying & Qiu, Jiaping, 2005. "The impact of leverage on firm investment: Canadian evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 277-291, March.
    27. Alpa Dhanani, 2005. "Corporate Dividend Policy: The Views of British Financial Managers," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7‐8), pages 1625-1672, September.
    28. Subramanian Rama Iyer & Harry Feng & Ramesh P. Rao, 2017. "Payout flexibility and capital expenditure," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 633-659, October.
    29. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Renneboog, Luc & Trojanowski, Grzegorz, 2011. "Patterns in payout policy and payout channel choice," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1477-1490, June.
    31. Dittmar, Amy K, 2000. "Why Do Firms Repurchase Stock?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(3), pages 331-355, July.
    32. Oswald, Dennis & Young, Steven, 2008. "Share reacquisitions, surplus cash, and agency problems," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 795-806, May.
    33. David Michayluk & Scott Walker & Karyn Neuhauser, 2019. "Dividend Consistency: Rewards, Learning, and Expectations," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 31(4), pages 118-128, December.
    34. Wanglin Ma & Alan Renwick & Bruce Greig, 2019. "Modelling the heterogeneous effects of stocking rate on dairy production: an application of unconditional quantile regression with fixed effects," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(43), pages 4769-4780, September.
    35. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Apergis, Nicholas & Chasiotis, Ioannis & Georgantopoulos, Andreas G. & Konstantios, Dimitrios, 2021. "The integration of share repurchases into investment decision-making: Evidence from Japan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Fernández de Guevara, Juan & Maudos, Joaquín & Salvador, Carlos, 2021. "Effects of the degree of financial constraint and excessive indebtedness on firms’ investment decisions," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    3. Keming Li, 2021. "The effect of option trading," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, December.
    4. Sai Ding & Alessandra Guariglia & John Knight & Junhong Yang, 2021. "Negative Investment in China: Financing Constraints and Restructuring versus Growth," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69(4), pages 1411-1449.
    5. Valentina Peruzzi, 2017. "Does family ownership structure affect investment-cash flow sensitivity? Evidence from Italian SMEs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(43), pages 4378-4393, September.
    6. Morais, Flávio & Serrasqueiro, Zélia & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2020. "The zero-leverage phenomenon: A bivariate probit with partial observability approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    7. Greta Falavigna & Roberto Ippoliti, 2021. "Financial Constraints and the Sustainability of Dividend Payout Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Xin Qu & Majella Percy & Fang Hu & Jenny Stewart, 2022. "Can CEO equity‐based compensation limit investment‐related agency problems?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2579-2614, June.
    9. Dang, Viet Anh & Kim, Minjoo & Shin, Yongcheol, 2014. "Asymmetric adjustment toward optimal capital structure: Evidence from a crisis," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 226-242.
    10. Lewe, Stefan, 2003. "Wachstumseffiziente Unternehmensbesteuerung," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 20042, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    11. Sai Ding & Minjoo Kim & Xiao Zhang, 2021. "New Insight on Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivity," Working Papers 2021_16, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    12. Paulo, Alves, 2018. "Abnormal retained earnings around the world," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 63-74.
    13. Zhang, Dongyang & Liu, Deqiang, 2017. "Determinants of the capital structure of Chinese non-listed enterprises: Is TFP efficient?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-202.
    14. Annalisa Ferrando & Carsten Preuss, 2018. "What finance for what investment? Survey-based evidence for European companies," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 1015-1053, December.
    15. Wang, Zigan & Yin, Qie Ellie & Yu, Luping, 2021. "Real effects of share repurchases legalization on corporate behaviors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 197-219.
    16. Simone Lenzu & Francesco Manaresi, 2019. "Sources and implications of resource misallocation: new evidence from firm-level marginal products and user costs," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 485, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    17. Akbar, Saeed & Rehman, Shafiq ur & Liu, Jia & Shah, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, 2017. "Credit supply constraints and financial policies of listed companies during the 2007–2009 financial crisis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 559-571.
    18. Yang, Junhong & Guariglia, Alessandra & Guo, Jie (Michael), 2019. "To what extent does corporate liquidity affect M&A decisions, method of payment and performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 128-152.
    19. Zhong He & Xiaoyan Chen & Wei Huang & Rulu Pan & Jing Shi & Tom Smith, 2016. "External finance and dividend policy: a twist by financial constraints," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(4), pages 935-959, December.
    20. Alfonsina Iona, 2019. "Modelling the Relation between Managers, Shadow Cost of External Finance and Corporate Investment," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-10, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ijmfpp:ijmf-10-2020-0516. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.