EFFECT OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE ON FIRM’S PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM SELECTED COUNTRIES
The study examined the effect of capital structure on the performance of selected telecommunication companies among three countries; Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana covering 2015-2019. A panel estimation technique was used. Fixed and random effects estimation methods and Hausman test were used in the study. Hausman test however favoured the acceptability of random effects for both the return on asset (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Return on assets and returns on equity were used to measure the financial performance, while debt-equity ratio, asset turnover and age of firm, were used to measure capital structure of the chosen telecommunication companies from the sampled countries. The result showed that The Age of firm and asset turnover have statistically significant positive effects on performance of telecommunication companies while debt-equity ratio has insignificant positive effect on the performance of telecommunication companies. It was concluded that the use of debt in the proportion of firms’ capital has no effect on financial performance of telecommunication companies. The study recommended that telecommunication companies to dwell more on internal sources of financing for optimal performance.
Capital structure, telecommunication, corporate performance, debt, equity, return on asset, return on capital employed.