Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index

This paper aims to investigate the stability and dominant determinants of dividend policy for a total of 242 UK dividend-paying companies listed on London Stock Exchange during the sample period 2002-2011. Particularly, the study examines if managers of UK listed firms tend to smooth dividends by co...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Li, ZW
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2012
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25617/
_version_ 1848793018842218496
author Li, ZW
author_facet Li, ZW
author_sort Li, ZW
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper aims to investigate the stability and dominant determinants of dividend policy for a total of 242 UK dividend-paying companies listed on London Stock Exchange during the sample period 2002-2011. Particularly, the study examines if managers of UK listed firms tend to smooth dividends by conducting Lintner’s (1956) partial adjustment model. The results demonstrate that UK firms extensively rely on past dividend payments but partially on earnings to adjust their dividend decision-making. The analysis further implies that UK listed companies have a relatively clear and stable dividend policy and tend to pay cash dividends rather than stock dividends. A slight upward trend in the proportion of UK dividend payers is observed during the sample period. In addition, the research tests the determining factors that drive dividend policy using Fixed-effect regression model in a panel manner. The results highlight the importance of firms’ profitability position, and demonstrate that UK mangers prefer distributing cash dividends rather than stock dividends. Also, the author finds support for free cash flow and life-cycle hypotheses. Additionally, agency problems in United Kingdom are found to be quite series. However, the author does not observe significant impacts of firms’ leverage and liquidity level, investment opportunity or firm size on dividend payments.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T18:53:38Z
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-25617
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T18:53:38Z
publishDate 2012
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-256172017-10-19T14:38:01Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25617/ Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index Li, ZW This paper aims to investigate the stability and dominant determinants of dividend policy for a total of 242 UK dividend-paying companies listed on London Stock Exchange during the sample period 2002-2011. Particularly, the study examines if managers of UK listed firms tend to smooth dividends by conducting Lintner’s (1956) partial adjustment model. The results demonstrate that UK firms extensively rely on past dividend payments but partially on earnings to adjust their dividend decision-making. The analysis further implies that UK listed companies have a relatively clear and stable dividend policy and tend to pay cash dividends rather than stock dividends. A slight upward trend in the proportion of UK dividend payers is observed during the sample period. In addition, the research tests the determining factors that drive dividend policy using Fixed-effect regression model in a panel manner. The results highlight the importance of firms’ profitability position, and demonstrate that UK mangers prefer distributing cash dividends rather than stock dividends. Also, the author finds support for free cash flow and life-cycle hypotheses. Additionally, agency problems in United Kingdom are found to be quite series. However, the author does not observe significant impacts of firms’ leverage and liquidity level, investment opportunity or firm size on dividend payments. 2012-09-12 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25617/1/dissertation.pdf Li, ZW (2012) Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle Li, ZW
Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index
title Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index
title_full Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index
title_fullStr Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index
title_full_unstemmed Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index
title_short Trends and Determinants of Dividend Policy: A Study of London Stock Exchange, FTSE 350 Index
title_sort trends and determinants of dividend policy: a study of london stock exchange, ftse 350 index
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25617/