Dynamics and determinants of dividend policy - Free Essay Example

INTRODUCTION Corporate dividend policy is one of the most debated topics in corporate finance. Many researchers have devised theories and provided empirical evidence regarding the determinants of a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend policy. The dividend policy issue, however, remains still unresolved as due to the fact that there are so many variables depending upon the type of company, its financial conditions, its industry etc that no single formula could be applicable. Clear guidelines for an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"optimal payout policyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ have not yet emerged despite the voluminous literature. We still do not have an acceptable explanation for the observed dividend behavior of companies. During the last fifty years several theoretical and empirical studies have been done leading to mainly three outcomes: 1. The increase in dividend payout affects the market value of the firm. 2. The decrease dividend payout adversely affects the market value of the firm. 3. The dividend policy of the firm does not affect the firm value at all. However, we can say that empirical evidence on the determinants of dividend policy is unfortunately very complex. Basis on which corporations pay out dividends to the share holders is still an unresolved puzzle. First prominent study that appeared in the literature of finance regarding dividend policy was that of Miller and Modigliani (1961) where they state that there are no deception in a perfect and a rational economic environment. This was the starting point for other researchers to explore dividend payout policy phenomena. Almost all researches that followed referred back to Miller and Modigliani (1961). Various researches were carried out by many researchers to explore the determinants of dividend payout policy, some of them focused on profitability, some on size of the firms, some on growth rate of the firm while others on agency costs. For example researches carried out by Nissim et el (2001), Brook et el (1998), Bernheim et el (1995), Kao et el (1994), and Healy et el (1988) found out a positive association between increase in dividend payout and future profitability. Kalay et el (1986) and Asquith et el (1983) found out that stock returns is positively associated with dividend changes. Sasson et el (1976) conclude that the payout ratio is positive association with average rates of return. On the other hand, studies of Benartzi et el (1997) and DeAngelo et el (1996) find no support for the relationship between future profitability and dividend changes. On Other side most debated factor affecting dividend policy arguably is agency costs. Jensen (1986). Agency cost argument suggests that cost is reducing by dividend payments and cash flow Rozeff (1982). Researches carried out by Jensen et el (1992), and Lang et el (1989) supported this agency cost hypothesis, while others such as Lie (2000), Yoon et el (1995) and Denis et el (1994) found no support for this hypothesis. Size of the firm is another factor which seems to have an impact of dividend payout policy. Firms larger in size are considered to have more ability to payout dividends to its share holders. Lloyd et el (1985), and Vogt (1994) pointed that firm size plays a role in clarifying the dividend-payout ratio of firms. They argued that because larger firms are mature and have easy access to capital markets thus they are not really much dependant on internally generated funding which enabl es them to payout higher dividends. The purpose of this research is to investigate the dynamics and determinants of dividend policy of oil gas sector firms in Pakistan. The independent variables selected from the literature include: market capitalization, profitability and annual rate of growth of total assets. Analysis of these variables should reveal there exist an impact of these variables on dividend payout policy of the firms and very nature of the relationship. The remaining part of this thesis is organized as follows. In section 2 brief reviews of theories about the dividend will be presented. In section 3 this thesis discusses the data and possible variables that can act as proxy for different influences for analysis .In section 4 this thesis will establish the model. Section 5 will provide details of methodology used. In section 6 thesis will establish analysis and interpretations and section 7 will present results and draw a conclusion. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW There are various theories which provide insight on how a firm pays the dividends. 2.1 Miller and Modigliani theory According to Miller and Modigliani (of Merton Miller, Franco) (1961) dividend do not affect firmsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ value in perfect market. Shareholders are not concerned to receiving their cash flows as dividend or in shape of capital gain, as far as firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t change the investment policies. In this type of situation firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend payout ratio affect their residual free cash flows, when the free cash flow is positive firms decide to pay dividend and if negative firms decide to issue shares. They also conclude that change in dividend may be conveying the information to the market about firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s future earnings. Example: Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a common believe that dividend policy is created by shareholder himself for example if a person has 10,000 PKR and wants income of 3,000 PKR a year from that portfolio, simply 3000 PKR money value can be sold by a person this amount as dividend income does not accep t by him. This theory says, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Who is anxious about dividends?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? MM explains that under certain assumptions including rational investors and a perfect capital market, the market value of a firm is independent of its dividend policy. Smirlock Marshall, (1983) stated that relationship between the Dividend and Investment Decisions indicates that no causality between the dividend and investment decisions of the firm. The fact that the firm-specific data conclusively supported the separation principle is particularly convincing. This is the first application of causality tests to a large sample of firms. 2.2 The bird in the hand theory Investors always prefer cash in hand rather then a future promise of capital gain due to minimizing risk Gordon (1963). Gordon believes that he is anxious about investing in dividends and dividend stocks. Gordon say that when he is paid hard cash by the company, he knows that the company is not just telling him that it is making money but the fact it that it is really making money . This is the idea that cash payment is valued by the investors in their hands over the hope of future profits. 2.3 The agency theory Traditionally, corporate dividend policy has been examined under the assumptions that the firm is one homogenous unit and that the managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s objective is to maximize its value as a whole. The agency cost approach differs from the traditional approach mainly in this way that it explicitly recognizes the firm as a collection of groups of individuals with conflicting interests and self-seeking motives. According to the agency theory, these behavioral implications cause individuals to maximize their own utility instead of maximizing the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s wealth. The agency theory of Jensen and Meckling (1976) is based on the conflict between managers and shareholder and the percentage of equity controlled by sponsor ownership should influence the dividend policy. The theory focuses on the relationship between an agent of the principal (companys managers) and a principal (shareholder) . Jensen and Meckling (1976) in corporations, agency problem arise from external debt and external equity. Jensen and Meckling (1976) analyzed that how firm value is affected by the distribution of ownership between inside shareholders and outside shareholders who can consume perquisites, and who cannot. Within this framework, increased managerial ownership of equity alleviates agency difficulties by reducing incentives to consume perquisites and expropriate shareholder wealth. Jensen and Meckling (1976) argue that equity agency costs would be lower in firms with larger proportions of inside ownership. Managers are better understanding their interest with stockholders when they increase the shareholdersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ ownership of the firm. Dividends are believed to play an important role in reducing conflicts between managers and stockholders. Any dividend policy should be designed to minimize the sum of capital, agency and taxation costs. According to Bathala (1990), in the agency costs and dividends, two lines of thought can be found explai ning cross-sectional variations in payout ratios. First view Holds that a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s optimal payout ratio is the results of a trade-off between a reduction in the agency costs of external equity and an increase in the transaction costs related with external financing resulting from dividend payments as the payout ratio increases. Second view Argues that inside ownership and external debt are substitute mechanisms in mitigating agency costs in a firm. Basic study for the first line of thought is based on Rozeffà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1982) propositions. He suggests that dividend payout ratios may be explained by reduced agency costs when the firm increases its dividend payout and by increased more expensive external capital. Easterbrook (1984) gives further explanation regarding agency cost problem and says that there are two forms of agency costs; one is the cost monitoring and other is cost of risk aversion on the part of directors or managers. The agency theory is related with resolving two issues that can be held in an agency relationship. PROBLEMS: The desire of the principal and agent conflict and it is expensive or complicated for the principal that it cannot check that the agent has behaved appropriately. Risk sharing is a problem that occurs when the agent and principle have different behavior towards hazard. The issue here is that the principal and the agent may prefer separate actions because of the separate risk preferences. According to (Naceur, Goaied, Belanes, 2006) profitable firms with more stable earnings can pay larger dividend. Whenever they are growing very quick, dividend policy doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get any impact from financial leverage and ownership concentration. Also the liquidity of stock market and size negatively impacts the dividend payment. Oskar kowalewski and Ivan Stetsyukand Olesksandr Talavera (2007) study that how corporate governance determines dividend polices in Poland. They have established for the first time, quantitative measures on the quality of corporate governance for 110 non- financial listed companies. Their result suggested that large and more profitable companies have higher dividend payout ratio .Furthermore, risky and more indebted firms prefer to pay lower dividend s. The results finally, based on the period of 1998-2004, Reveals that dividend policy is quite important in the valuation process of companies, but the issues still remain scantily investigated in transition countries. A study on the determinant s of dividend policy and its association to corporate governance in a transition economy both offers an interesting subject and complements the existing corporate governance literature. The agency theory points that dividend may mitigate agency costs by distributing free cash flows that otherwise would be spent on unprofitable projects by the management. It is argued that dividends expose firms to more frequent analysis by the capital markets as dividend payout increase the likelihood that a firm has to issues new common stock. On the o ther hand, scrutiny by the market helps alleviate opportunistic management behavior, and thus, agency costs. Agency cost, in turn, is related to the strength of shareholders rights and they are associated with corporate governance. Furthermore, agency suggested that shareholders may prefer dividends, particularly when they fear expropriation by insider. They test the determinants of dividend policy in a multiple regression framework to control for firm specific characteristics other than governance. All the variables enter the regressions with expected signs. Size and return on assets are positively associated with variable cash dividend. Leverage is negatively associated with variable cash dividend. Their results provide evidence that in Poland listed companies where corporate governance practices are high and as a result shareholders rights are for strong payout higher dividend. Jianguo Chen and Nont Dhiensiri(2009) suggest that relationship between dividend pay-out ratio (POR) with the pro Cash flow variability (CFV), ownership dispersion, insider ownership, free cash flow, collateral stable assets, Past growth (GROW1), future growth (GROW2), stable dividend policy and imputation credit (IMP). They analyze the determinants of the corporate dividend policy using firms listed on New Zealand Stock Exchange .They examined that firms traditionally have high dividend pay-outs compared with companies in the US. They find that their is a negative relationship between dividend payout ratio and CFV, Insider, Beta ,growth and positive relationship between ownership dispersion ,free cash flow, collateral stable assets stable dividend policy and imputation credit. Their conclusion provides strong support to the agency cost theory and partially supports transaction cost and residual dividend theory. They do not have any evidence to support the dividend stability theory and the signaling theory. 2.4 Signaling theory The explanation about the signaling theory given by Bhattacharya (1979) and John, Kose and Williams (1985) dividends allay information symmetric between managers and shareholders by delivering inside information of firm future prospects. 2.5 Effect of tax preferences theory Miller and Scholars (1978) find that the effect of tax preferences on clientele and conclude different tax rates on dividends and capital gains lead to different clientele. Tax Preference theory Investor gave an important consideration to the taxes. This should by keep in mind that the dividends are taxed at a higher rate than the capital gains. As such, capital gains are preferred by the investors as compared to the dividends. This is known as when the investments are actually sold only then the capital gains are paid. When capital gains are realized inverseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s can control, but dividend payments are un controllable by them and the related company controls the dividend payment. In an estate situation, capital gains are not realized. For example: If a stock is purchased by an investor 50 years ago and is held by him until his or her death, when it is passed on to an heir after he is expired. Now that heir does not have to pay taxes on stockà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s appreciation. 2.6 Life Cycle Theory Life Cycle Theory and Fama and French (2001) states that the firms should follow a life cycle and reflect managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s assessment of the importance of market imperfection and factors including taxes to equity holders, agency cost asymmetric information, floating cost and transaction costs. 2.7 Catering theory According to Baker and Wurgler (2004) in Catering theory suggest that the managers in order to give incentives to the investor according to their needs and wants and in this way cater the investors by paying smooth dividends when the investors by not pay when investors prefer non payers but put stock price premium on payers. 2.8 Lintnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Model John Lintner (1956) initiates with his theory relies on two important things that he studied about dividend policy: 1) According to the amount of positive net-present-value (NPV) projects the companies tend to set long-run target dividends-to-earnings ratios. 2) Earnings increases are not always bearable. As a result, until managers can see that new earnings levels are bearable, dividend policy is not changed As regards the empirical literature the roots of the literature on determinants of dividend Policy is related to Lintner (1956) seminal work after this work the model is extended by The Samy ben naceur, Mohamed goaied and Amel belanesthe (2006) during the period (1996à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"2002) on the Tunisian Stock Exchange listed study the dividend policy of 48 firms. Lintnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model is applied using static and dynamic panel data regressions. They examined that Tunisian firms rely more on current earnings that past dividends to fix their dividend paymen ts in the way that dividends tend to be more sensitive to current earnings rather than prior dividends. Any inconsistency in the level of dividends is directly reflected in the earnings of the corporation. Samy ben naceur, Mohamed Goaied and Amel belanesthe (2006) focused on the relationship between dividend and ownership, liquidity, return on assets (ROA), profitability, investment, leverage ratio, size. The results indicate that highly profitable firms with more stable earnings can afford larger free cash flows and thus pay out larger dividends. Moreover, fast-growing firms distribute larger dividends so as to demand to investors. On the other hand, ownership concentration does not have any impact on dividend payment. In fact, being closely held Tunisian firms witness less agency conflicts and shareholders do not resort to dividends in order to reduce managerial discretion and protect their interests. The liquidity of the stock market has a negative influence, which confirms th at the implementation of the electronic transaction system in the TSE has facilitated the realization of capital gains, which has reduced the need for dividend payments. At last, the negative coefficient on size found in the full sample has disappeared when regulated firms are excluded, which reduces the strength of this factor. Researchers have proposed many different theories about the factors that affect a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend policy. Kanwal Anil and Sujata Kapoor (2008) analyzed that The Determinants of Dividend Payout Ratio-A Study of Indian Information Technology Sector. The period under study is 2000-2006 as it is known that the period of 5 to 6 years covers both recession and booming of IT industry. They stated that profitability has always been considered as a primary indicator of dividend payout ratio. There are numerous other factors other than profitability also that affect dividend decisions of an organization namely cash flows, corporate tax, sales growt h and market to book value ratio. They suggest that dividend payout ratio is positively related to profits, cash flows and it has inverse relationship with corporate taxes, sales growth and market to book value ratio. Statistical techniques of correlation and regression have been used to explore the relationship between key Variables. Thus, the main theme of this study is to recognize the various condition that effect the decision of dividend payout policy of IT firms in India. In short factors influencing the corporate dividend policy, according to them, may substantially vary from country to country because of inconsistency or variations in legal, tax and accounting policy between countries. In view of these facts, the present study aims at identifying the variables influencing corporate dividend policy in Pakistan. CHAPTER III DEPENDENT AND INDEPENDENT VARIABLES Objective of this study is to determine factors that have an impact on dividend of Oil Gas Exploration and Oil Gas Marketing sector of KSE. Dividend yield is dependent variable and the three independent variable are size, profitability and growth. These variables are discussed here. 3.1 Dividend yield (DY) Arthur A Thompson in his book Crafting and Executing Strategy says that the measure of the return that shareholder receives in the form of dividend is called dividend yield (DY). A typical dividend yield is 2 -3%, the dividend yield for fast growth companies in often below 1%(may be even 0) and the dividend yield for slow-growth companies can run 4-5%. Dividend yield can measure by annual dividend per share divided by current market price per share. Samy ben naceur et el(2006)The DY (dividend yield ) as our measure of the dependent variable equals to dividend per share to price per share, payout ratio cannot be used as a measur e of dependent variable because sample contains firms with negative earnings. Khamis Al-Yahyaee et el (2006) and Hafeez et el (2009) also used dividend yield (DY) as the dependent variable. CHAPTER IV EXPLANATORY VARIABLES This thesis selected 3 variables used by different researchers Samy ben naceur et el (2006) and Hafeez et el (2009). 4.1 Firm Size Hafeez et el (2009) The firm size has been calculated as the total assets of the firm because a posiyive coefficient is expected from this variable as there is a very low chance of bankruptcy in large more diversified firms and it can sustain higher level of debt. Scott and martin (1975) found that the size of the firm is very important factor which can affect the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend policy and debt policy. A negative impact has been found by market capitalization and size of the firms on dividend payout policy which clearly shows that the firms prefer to invest in their assets rather than pay dividends to its shareholders. The financial characteristic of size has been explained by Market capitalization and the size of the firm. According to the null hypothesis for this financial characteristic there is no relation between the market capitalization and size with dividend payout ratio but the results show that there is a inverse and significant relationship betwee n dividend payout and MV.Hence null hypothesis is rejected. The evidence supported by the finding of Belans et al (2007), Jeong (2008) deviate from Avazian et al (2006). Samy ben naceur et el (2006) the size of the firm by total market value (LNSIZE) and it is expected to be positively correlated with dividend paid. The literature suggests that size may be inversely related to the probability of bankruptcy (Ferri and Jones 1979; Titman and Wessels 1988; Rajan and Zingales 1995). In particular, larger firms should have an easier access to external capital markets and can borrow on better terms, Moreover, larger firms tend to be more diversified and their cash flows are more regular and less volatile. Thus, larger firms should be more willing to pay out higher dividends. Even the conflicts between creditors and shareholders are more severe for smaller firms than the larger ones. Khamis Al-Yahyaee et el (2006) they measure size of the firm from Log of sales. Firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend policy is influenced by variables such as size. There is an advantageous position for larger firms to raise external funds in the capital markets and are less dependent of internal funds. Therefore there is a negative relationship between dependence on internal financing and the size of the firm. Moreover, there is a chance of lower bankruptcy probabilities in larger firms and thus they are able to pay more dividends. Thus as per this research the hypothesis is H1= Firm size is positively associated with dividend payouts. 4.2 Firm profitability Empirical research found that there is a positive relationship between dividend yield and profitability. The more profitable the firms are, the more internal financing they will have, and thus are able to afford larger dividends. Some of them are as follow. Khamis Al-Yahyaee et el (2006) measured profitability by earnings before interest and taxes to total assets as our surrogate for profitability. Hence a positive relationship between profitability and dividend is expected. Since the annual profits pay the dividends therefore its logical that more dividends are paid by profitable firms. Samy ben naceuret et el (2006) measure the profitability by the return on assets (ROA) net income/total assets and it is positively correlated with dividend payments. Firms with high profitability can afford larger free cash flows and hence new investment opportunities. Therefore, paying higher dividends does not disturb them. In the same vein and according to the pecking order theory, firms prefer using internal sources of financing first, then debt and finally external equity obtained by stock issues. The more profitable the firms are, the more internal financing they will have, and thus are able to afford larger dividends. Hafeez et el (2009) measured Profitability Net Earnings and Earning Per Share after tax. The net earnings show the positive relationship with the dividend yield. The net earnings after interest, depreciation and after tax have been used as the explanatory variable to examine the role of earnings to pay dividends. Thus as per this research the hypothesis is H2= There is a positive relationship between a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s profitability and dividend payouts. 4.3 Firm Growth Samy ben naceur et el (2006) measure investment and growth by MBV (market value of equity/ book value of equity) and annual rate of growth of total assets. Firms anticipate higher growth, when they establish lower dividend payout ratio because growth entails higher investment expenditures. When firms retain higher proportion of earning to finance future investment need due to high cost of external financing, their dividend pay out in anticipation of future growth stands reduced. Hence, a negative relationship between dividend payout and expected growth is expected. Khamis Al-Yahyaee et el (2006) measure the growth opportunities through market-to-book ratio. A negative relationship is expected between growth opportunities and dividend. Large additions of capital are required by the firms experiencing substantial success and rapid growth. Consequently, lower dividend payout policies are expected by growth firms. Similarly, the pecking order theory predicts that more earnings are r etained by the firms having a high proportion of market value followed by growth opportunities hence they are able to minimize the need to raise new equity capital. Free cash flow theory also predicts that their will be a lower free cash flow and lower dividend is paid by the firms with high growth opportunities. On the other hand Hafeez et el (2009) argued with the above researcher. According to the signaling theory the higher the firm grows, the higher they pay dividends to shareholders. The shareholders get signals from the growth of the firms having high growth opportunity. The sales growth has been used as proxy of Growth in the empirical analysis of the study and has been used as percent age change in sales annually as proxy of the growth. Whereas Kanwal Anil et el (2008), measured growth and investment by sales growth and MTBV. Hafeez Ahmed et el (2009) measures investment as SLACK = accumulated retained earnings/ total asset. Thus as per this research the hypothesis is H3= Firm growth is negatively associated with dividend payouts. Table 1 Summary of Proxy Variables and Research Hypotheses H1: Size MCAP = market capitalization Positive H2: Profitability ROA= net income/total assets Positive H3: Growth GROWTH = sales growth Negative CHAPTER V METHODOLOGY DATA COLLECTION METHOD The data is collected from Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan and the Karachi Stock Exchange. The variables of the study are calculated from the Audited Annual Accounts of 6 firms for the period of 2001 to 2008 resulting in about 240 observations for each variable and as such it is a long period enough to smooth out variable fluctuations. (Rozeff, 1982) SAMPLE Sample Size consists of six companies from oil and gas exploration and marketing sectors in Pakistan, listed on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Total of six companies listed on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). Data collected from year 2001 to year 2008. STATISTICAL TEST Linear Regression test was performed to analyze data. Dividend yield is a dependent variable and growth, size and profitability are taken as independent variable. REGRESSION MODEL This study uses multiple regression analysis. This thesis estimate that Y= X0 + X1 + X2 + X3 + e Y = Dividend yield. X0 = Intercept of the equation. X1 = Firm size. X2 = Firm profitability. X3 = Firm sale growth. e = Error Term. CHAPTER VI DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION Table 2 MODEL R SQUARE F Sig. 1 .223 3.917 .015(a) Table 2 above shows F Ratio for the regression model is significant which indicates that regression model is a best fit. Total variation in the dependent variable explained by the regression model as indicated by R square is .223 i.e. 22.3% change in dividend yield is explained by these three independent variables. Table3 UNSTANDARDIZED COEFFICIENT STANDARDISECOEFFICIENT t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) 0.066 0.011  5.826 0 Size -1.10E-06 0 -0.503 -2.879 0.006* Profitability 0.16 0.094 0.269 1.709 0.095** Sale growth 2.17E-07 0 0.484 3.038 0.004* *Significant at 1% **Significant at 10% Table 3 reports the ordinary least square results of the regression analysis. Results indicate that size of the firm is significant as shown in table 3 and shows that size is negatively correlated with dividend at 1% .As researcher taken in its own hypothesis that the size will present positive relation but its coefficient is negative which rejects researcher hypothesis. Since the size is also statistically significant but the hypothesis for this thesis shows that the growth is negatively related to dividend hence this hypothesis rejected. Some researcher result find out size as positive. Fama and French (2000 and 2001) concluded that more dividends are payable by large and more profitable firms. Lloyd and Jahera (1995 cited on holder 1998) concluded that those larger firms have easier access to capital markets which are more mature hence allowing for higher dividend pay-out ratios and reducing their dependence on internally generated funding. Aneel Kanwer (2002) measur ed size with total sale and researcher find out that size is positive related to dividend yields. Smaller company gives lower dividend as compared to larger company. Oskar kowalewki et el (2007) made a research in Poland and they measured size with total assets .they find out that size is positively related to dividends because more dividends are paid by companies which are larger in asset and size.. Some researcher result find out size as negative .The result of the research by Hafeez Ahmed et el (2009) on KSE (non financial firms) is similar to this thesis result. they measure size with natural logarithm of total assets This results indicates that the size of the firms have the negative impact on dividend payout policy which shows that the firms prefer to invest in their assets rather than pay dividends to their shareholders .. Samy Bin Naem et el (2006) made their research on the firms of the Tunisian Stock Market and They measured the size with logarithm of stock market capitalization. They concluded that there is a negative relationship between size and dividend, but the negative relationship disappeared when regulated firms are removed. Since the result of the researcher Fama and French (2000 and 2001) , Lloyd and Jahera (1995 cited on holder 1998) , Aneel Kanwer (2002) and Oskar kowalewki et el(2007) shows that the size is positively related with dividend and result of some other researcher like Hafeez Ahmed et el (2009), Samy Bin Naem et el (2006) shows that the size is negative related to dividend, the logic of this opposite view by the researcher is that different countries have different environment, taxes, difference in culture, different economic position and so on, in addition to that, difference in industries and financial firms are the major reasons of difference in the views of various researchers. The hypothesis of this thesis is positive because large size firms pay more dividends and hypothesis of various researchers is also positive large size firm will have more profit and hence pay more dividends to their shareholders but the result of this thesis is negative, because researcher used stock market capitalization to measure size. The large firms dominate and may be involved in greater scale production, and thus distribute less cash dividends as compared to their smaller counter parts. Profitability is positively correlated with dividend which is significant at 10%. This shows that more profitable firms are give more dividend than the firm which are less profitable. The result of the research by Hafeez et el (2009) they measured profitability with Earning Per Share after tax and Samy Ben Naceuret et el (2006) they measured profitability with ROA=net income/total assets is similar to this thesis result. The results indicate that large free cash flow is afforded by the firms which are highly profitable and with more stable earnings. Khamis Al-Yahyaee et el (2006) measured the profitability by ear nings before interest and taxes to total assets as our surrogate for profitability. Hence a positive relationship between profitability and dividend is expected. Since the annual profits pay the dividends therefore the more the profitable firm the more they will pay the dividend Shammyla Naeem et el (2007) measured the profitability with return on investments. They also get the same conclusion the size is positively related to the dividend the higher profitable firms pay more dividend Another research by Adaoglu (200), Amidu et el (2006) and Belans et al (2007) is similar to this thesis result. This shows that the firms with the positive earnings pay more dividends. This is indicated that the profitability which shows the positive and significant association with dividend yield. Since the Growth is also statistically significant as shows in Table 3 and the hypothesis for this thesis shows that the growth is negatively related to dividend but the result of this thesis differ s from the hypothesis because it is positive related to the dividend hence this hypothesis rejected. The result conclude that growing firms are more geared to provide more dividend. Some researcher result find out growth as positive. The result of the research by Samy Ben Nnaceuret et el (2006) measured growth with annual rate of growth of total assets is similar to this thesis result. The results indicate that fast-growing firms distribute larger dividends so as to appeal to investors. The result of research by Hafeez et el (2009) The growth has been measured growth with sale. According to the signaling theory the high growth firms are smoother to pay their dividends to shareholders. Growth is the signals to the Shareholders the firms having high growth opportunities. Whereas, some researcher result find out growth as negative. Rozeff (1982), Lloyd et el. (1985) and Collins et el. (1996) all shows significantly negative relationship between growth and dividend payout. R ozeff, (1982) obtains the results which is similar to our hypothesis that dividend payout is negatively related to growth due to investment needs for costly external funding and growth which is significant at 5%. Khamis Al-Yahyaee et el (2006) measure the growth opportunities through market-to-book ratio. Negative relationship between growth and dividend. Large additions of capital are required by the firms experiencing substantial success and rapid growth. Consequently, lower dividend payout policies are expected by growth firms. Kanwal Anil et el ( 2008) made their research on IT firms in India which conclude that dividend payout ratio is inverse relationship with growth .They measured growth by sales growth and MTBV. Jianguo Chen et el (2009) measured growth with Average growth rate of revenues, made their research on sample firms listed on NZSE which conclude there is significantly negative relationship between growth and dividends payout ratio and its significant level is 5%. The hypothesis of this thesis is negative because when the growth increase, the firm tends to pay more attention on their internal financing and they invest in their own company rather then paying to the shareholders. The result of this thesis is positive because the growth is measured by sale growth. The more sale growth the more will be the profitability and therefore the company will generate revenue and hence more dividend is paid to their shareholder. CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION In this research, three variables were tested to analyze their possible impact and relationship with dividend yield policy, namely size, profitability and growth. The thesis uses multiple linear regression models, the data analysis covering from 2001 to 2008 of Oil gas sector in Pakistan. Results show that dividend yield and independent variables are statistically significant. Size is statistically significant which shows that relationship exists between firm size and dividend yield. The significant level which we took was 1%, in an article by author Khamis Al-Yahyaee et el (2006) the significant level was also 1% since the size is significant but the Result shows that there is a inverse relationship between dividend yield and size. This shows that hypothesis of this research is rejected. This result is supported by the result of different researcher Samy Bin Naem et el (2006) and Hafeez Ahmed et el (2009) Profitability is also statistically significant. Positive relation ship exists between the dividend and profitability, the significant level we took here is 10% in an article by the author Yahyaee et el (2006) the significant level was also 10%, this shows that H0 is rejected. The more the firms are profitable the large they give dividends. We measured the profitability by ROA. This result is supported by the result of different researcher Samy Ben Naceuret et el (2006), Shammyla Naem et el (2007) and Hafeez et el (2009). Growth is also statistically significant. The significant level of our research is 1%. There is a positive relationship between growth and dividend yield which indicate that the hypothesis of this thesis is rejected because in this thesis hypothesis the growth is negatively related. This result is supported by the result of different researcher Samy Ben Naceuret et el (2006) and Hafeez et el (2009). RECOMMENDATIONS In this research, three variables were tested to analyze their possible impact on dividend yield, but study of available literature reveals that there some other variables that may have an impact on dividend yield policy of a firm such as price to earnings ratio, profit margin, debt to equity ratio, current ratio, available float, insider ownership, institutional ownership, and investment policy. Further researches can be carried out to test the relationship of these variables on firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend policy and what kind of relation they have can also be tested. Having said the above and as earlier mentioned in the introduction, the number of variables affecting the dividend payout policy, are numerous. However, the three variables that have been taken into consideration for this thesis are very significant to oil and gas sector. As per the research conducted by researcher, an opportunity is taken to recommend that these variables are a key ingredients for any divide nd analysis but would like to stress that other factors or variables which are inherent due to the uniqueness of the company/industry being reviewed should also be taken into consideration before arriving at an opinion on its respective dividend policy.