Dividend policy and its impact on the capitalization of Russian public joint-stock companies

About the authors:

Alena O. Rybka, Master Student, Institute of Finance and Economics, University of Tyumen; a.ribka@inbox.ru

Natalia B. Boldyreva, Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, Institute of Finance and Economics, University of Tyumen; eLibrary AuthorID, ORCID, ResearcherID, naboldyreva@yandex.ru

Abstract:

Dividend payments are one of the indicators of the company’s profitability and its growth prospects. At the same time companies limit their ability to reinvest profits in development by paying dividends.

The article examines the dividend policy of Russian public joint-stock companies, the shares of which are included in the calculation base of the Moscow Exchange Index (IMOEX) from 2007 to 2016. Dividend payout ratio is used as a proxy for dividend policy. Evaluation of the dividend policy of Russian public companies included in the MOEX Russia Index (IMOEX) allowed their ranking according to the dividend/non-dividend company criteria. It was established that the majority of the companies (66.67%) were non-dividend. The share of companies with state participation is 68.8%.

In the analysed period high dividend payments are typical for non-governmental companies, while government sector pays less. The correlation analysis of the relationship between the average annual dividend payout ratio and the average annual market capitalization of Russian joint-stock companies showed the absence of a significant effect of the company’s dividend policy on its market capitalization for 60% of the companies of the MOEX Russia Index. Among them, the share of companies with state participation accounts for 57.14%.

In general, the majority of the largest Russian companies do not consider dividend policy as a key factor of the growth of market capitalization, however, the case of each particular company is unique.

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