CAPITAL STRUCTURE CHOICES IN SERVICES FIRMS: EMPIRICAL RESULTS FROM NIGERIA LISTED COMPANIES

Abstract

The effects of the worldwide economic slump, which was largely triggered by SARS-CoV-2, have undermined the profitability of businesses. As a result, the overarching goal of this research is to look into the impact of capital structure choices on the financial performance of services firms quoted on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). With an adjusted population of 11 listed services firms in Nigeria, the analysis spans from 2011 to 2020. The secondary data was collected from the annual reports of the selected enterprises and African financials, using an ex-post facto design. The generalised least square model was employed for the analysis of the data. While both retained earnings and total debt have a positive and significant influence on earnings per share, short-term and long-term debts, and equity were insignificant, according to the findings. The study, on the other hand, suggests that company executives save earnings to be spent solely on rainy days in order to minimize negative shocks that could harm a company's going-concern objective.