IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bde/wpaper/0209.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial Pressure and Balance Sheet Adjustment by UK Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew Benito

    (Banco de España)

  • Garry Young

    (Bank of England)

Abstract

This paper examines the financial policies and balance sheet adjustment of companies. Using a large panel of quoted UK firms, we estimate models for dividends, new equity issuance and investment, relating them to debt adjustment. The results suggest that while dividends are sticky in the short run, they are an important means of balance sheet adjustment in the long run. Other evidence supports the idea that companies actively target their balance sheet by variation in dividends, new equity issues and investment. There is evidence for financial pressure effects of debt-servicing costs on investment and dividends but not new equity issuance.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Benito & Garry Young, 2002. "Financial Pressure and Balance Sheet Adjustment by UK Firms," Working Papers 0209, Banco de España.
    • Handle: RePEc:bde:wpaper:0209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicaciones/PublicacionesSeriadas/DocumentosTrabajo/02/Fic/dt0209e.pdf
    File Function: First version, April 2002
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2000. "Measurement Error and the Relationship between Investment and q," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 1027-1057, October.
    2. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1996. "The Financial Accelerator and the Flight to Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Richard Blundell & Stephen Bond & Frank Windmeijer, 2000. "Estimation in dynamic panel data models: improving on the performance of the standard GMM estimator," IFS Working Papers W00/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    4. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, G., 2005. "Control Structures and Payout Policy," Other publications TiSEM a82281ef-f247-479f-a0e3-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Stephen Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Dynamic Investment Models and the Firm's Financial Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 197-222.
    6. Andrew Benito & Garry Young, 2007. "Financial Pressure and Balance Sheet Adjustment by Firms," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(5), pages 581-602, October.
    7. Wiji Arulampalam, 1999. "A Note on Estimated Coefficients in Random Effects Probit Models," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(4), pages 597-602, November.
    8. Robert E. Carpenter & Bruce C. Petersen, 2002. "Capital Market Imperfections, High-Tech Investment, and New Equity Financing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 54-72, February.
    9. 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.
    10. Nickell, Stephen & Nicolitsas, Daphne, 1999. "How does financial pressure affect firms?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1435-1456, August.
    11. Stephen R. Bond & Jason G. Cummins, 2000. "The Stock Market and Investment in the New Economy: Some Tangible Facts and Intangible Fictions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 31(1), pages 61-124.
    12. Andrew Benito & Garry Young, 2003. "Hard Times or Great Expectations? Dividend Omissions and Dividend Cuts by UK Firms," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(5), pages 531-555, December.
    13. Auerbach, Alan J., 2002. "Taxation and corporate financial policy," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 19, pages 1251-1292, Elsevier.
    14. 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.
    15. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    16. Stewart C. Myers, 2001. "Capital Structure," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 81-102, Spring.
    17. Auerbach, Alan J. & Hassett, Kevin A., 2003. "On the marginal source of investment funds," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 205-232, January.
    18. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen & Devereux, Michael & Schiantarelli, Fabio, 1992. "Investment and Tobin's Q: Evidence from company panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 233-257.
    19. Michael J. Barclay & Clifford W. Smith & Ross L. Watts, 1995. "The Determinants Of Corporate Leverage And Dividend Policies," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 7(4), pages 4-19, January.
    20. Alan J. Auerbach, 1979. "Wealth Maximization and the Cost of Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(3), pages 433-446.
    21. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    22. Shyam-Sunder, Lakshmi & C. Myers, Stewart, 1999. "Testing static tradeoff against pecking order models of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 219-244, February.
    23. Bond, Stephen R & Chennells, Lucy & Devereux, Michael P, 1996. "Taxes and Company Dividends: A Microeconometric Investigation Exploiting Cross-Section Variation in Taxes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(435), pages 320-333, March.
    24. 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.
    25. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    26. DeAngelo, Harry & Masulis, Ronald W., 1980. "Optimal capital structure under corporate and personal taxation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-29, March.
    27. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hernando, Ignacio & Martínez-Carrascal, Carmen, 2008. "The impact of financial variables on firms' real decisions: Evidence from Spanish firm-level data," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 543-561, March.
    2. Bunn, Philip & Smietanka, Pawel & Mizen, Paul, 2018. "Growing pension deficits and the expenditure decisions of UK companies," Bank of England working papers 714, Bank of England.
    3. Nehrebecki Marian, 2020. "Cash flow sensitivity of investment: Evidence from the Polish listed companies," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 7(54), pages 157-171, January.
    4. Andrew Benito, 2003. "The incidence and persistence of dividend omissions by Spanish firms," Working Papers 0303, Banco de España.
    5. Andrew Benito & John Whitley, 2003. "Implicit interest rates and corporate balance sheets: an analysis using aggregate and disaggregated UK data," Bank of England working papers 193, Bank of England.
    6. Andrew Benito, 2002. "Financial pressure, monetary policy effects and inventory adjustment by UK and Spanish firms," Working Papers 0226, Banco de España.
    7. Philip Bunn & Garry Young, 2004. "Corporate capital structure in the United Kingdom: determinants and adjustment," Bank of England working papers 226, Bank of England.
    8. Alessandra Guariglia & Marina-Eliza Spaliara & Serafeim Tsoukas, 2016. "To What Extent Does the Interest Burden Affect Firm Survival? Evidence from a Panel of UK Firms during the Recent Financial Crisis," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(4), pages 576-594, August.
    9. Galindo, Arturo & Izquierdo, Alejandro & Montero, Jose Manuel, 2007. "Real exchange rates, dollarization and industrial employment in Latin America," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 284-298, December.
    10. Andrew Benito & Garry Young, 2007. "Financial Pressure and Balance Sheet Adjustment by Firms," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(5), pages 581-602, October.
    11. Philip Bunn & Kamakshya Trivedi, 2005. "Corporate expenditures and pension contributions: evidence from UK company accounts," Bank of England working papers 276, Bank of England.
    12. Peter Gibbard & Ibrahim Stevens, 2011. "Corporate debt and financial balance sheet adjustment: a comparison of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 95-118, February.
    13. Görg, Holger & Spaliara, Marina-Eliza, 2013. "Export market exit, financial pressure and the crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 9599, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Marie Diron & Maria Cruz Manzano & Thomas Westermann, 2005. "Forecasting aggregate investment in the euro area: do indicators of financial conditions help?," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Investigating the relationship between the financial and real economy, volume 22, pages 206-27, Bank for International Settlements.
    15. Andrew Benito, 2017. "How does monetary policy affect labor demand and labor productivity?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 340-340, July.
    16. Axel A Weber & Rafael Gerke & Andreas Worms, 2009. "Has the monetary transmission process in the euro area changed? Evidence vased on VAR estimates," BIS Working Papers 276, Bank for International Settlements.
    17. Andrew Benito, 2003. "The capital structure decisions of firms: is there a pecking order?," Working Papers 0310, Banco de España.
    18. Alberto Jaramillo & Hermilson Velásquez & Javier Santiago Ortiz & Natalia Serna, 2003. "Aspectos teóricos y empíricos de la relación empresas bancos," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 3922, Universidad EAFIT.
    19. Mr. Albert Jaeger, 2003. "Corporate Balance Sheet Restructuring and Investment in the Euro Area," IMF Working Papers 2003/117, International Monetary Fund.
    20. von Kalckreuth, Ulf & Jorg Breitung & Robert S Chirinko, 2003. "A Vectorautoregressive Investment Model (VIM) and Monetary Policy Transmission: Panel Evidence from German Firms," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2003 213, Royal Economic Society.
    21. Richard Disney & Helen Miller & Thomas Pope, 2018. "Firm-level investment spikes and aggregate investment over the Great Recession," IFS Working Papers W18/03, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    22. Hongfei Zhu, 2009. "The Relationship Between Investment and Fund Raising: An Empirical study to Japanese Manufacturing Firms," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(1), pages 357-367.
    23. Ulf Von Kalckreuth, 2006. "Financial Constraints and Capacity Adjustment: Evidence from a Large Panel of Survey Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 73(292), pages 691-724, November.
    24. Douglas Sutherland & Peter Hoeller, 2012. "Debt and Macroeconomic Stability: An Overview of the Literature and Some Empirics," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1006, OECD Publishing.
    25. Andrew Benito & Ignacio Hernando, 2002. "Extricate: Financial Pressure and Firm Behaviour in Spain," Working Papers 0227, Banco de España.

    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. Andrew Benito, 2003. "The incidence and persistence of dividend omissions by Spanish firms," Working Papers 0303, Banco de España.
    2. Philip Bunn & Kamakshya Trivedi, 2005. "Corporate expenditures and pension contributions: evidence from UK company accounts," Bank of England working papers 276, Bank of England.
    3. Andrew Benito, 2003. "The capital structure decisions of firms: is there a pecking order?," Working Papers 0310, Banco de España.
    4. Andrew Benito & Garry Young, 2003. "Hard Times or Great Expectations? Dividend Omissions and Dividend Cuts by UK Firms," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(5), pages 531-555, December.
    5. Andrew Benito & Ignacio Hernando, 2002. "Extricate: Financial Pressure and Firm Behaviour in Spain," Working Papers 0227, Banco de España.
    6. Philip Bunn & Garry Young, 2004. "Corporate capital structure in the United Kingdom: determinants and adjustment," Bank of England working papers 226, Bank of England.
    7. Peter Gibbard & Ibrahim Stevens, 2011. "Corporate debt and financial balance sheet adjustment: a comparison of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 95-118, February.
    8. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(1), pages 177-213, March.
    9. 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.
    10. Milos Markovic & Michael A. Stemmer, 2017. "Firm Growth Dynamics and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Serbian Firms," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 17012, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    11. Ferrando, Annalisa & Martinez-Carrascal, Carmen & Coluzzi, Chiara, 2009. "Financing obstacles and growth: an analysis for euro area non-financial corporations," Working Paper Series 997, European Central Bank.
    12. Andrew Benito & Ignacio Hernando, 2007. "Firm Behaviour And Financial Pressure: Evidence From Spanish Panel Data," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 283-311, October.
    13. Borisova, Ginka & Brown, James R., 2013. "R&D sensitivity to asset sale proceeds: New evidence on financing constraints and intangible investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 159-173.
    14. Laeven, Luc, 2000. "Does financial liberalization relax financing constraints on firms ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2467, The World Bank.
    15. Fabio Bertoni & María Ferrer & José Martí, 2013. "The different roles played by venture capital and private equity investors on the investment activity of their portfolio firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 607-633, April.
    16. Fabio Bertoni & Massimo G. Colombo & Annalisa Croce, 2010. "The Effect of Venture Capital Financing on the Sensitivity to Cash Flow of Firm's Investments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(4), pages 528-551, September.
    17. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    18. Ann E. Harrison & Inessa Love & Margaret S. McMillan, 2022. "Global capital flows and financing constraints," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 8, pages 181-213, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    19. Vijayakumaran, Ratnam, 2021. "Impact of managerial ownership on investment and liquidity constraints: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    20. Bessler, Wolfgang & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Haller, Rebekka & Meier, Iwan, 2013. "The international zero-leverage phenomenon," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 196-221.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial pressure; dividends; equity issues; debt; investment; company panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bde:wpaper:0209. 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: Ángel Rodríguez. Electronic Dissemination of Information Unit. Research Department. Banco de España (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdegves.html .

    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.