Market based financial measures of sugar industry in India

Abraham

et al. 2023

JRFM

Transparency and disclosure (T&D) of information trigger the interest of all stakeholders, including investors in a company. Cognizance of the company’s financial health before investing is very necessary. Disclosure of information in the firm’s financial reports reflects the firm’s financial performance. A firm’s financial health protects investors’ and other stakeholders’ interests and the firm’s long-term sustainability. Owing to the importance of T&D and a firm’s financial health, this paper investigates the impact of T&D on the financial distress (FD) of non-financial firms (NFFs) listed in India. This study examines both linear and nonlinear connectivity of T&D and financial distress (FD). Their association is also investigated in a competitive scenario (under the moderating effect of competition). The panel data analysis is incorporated into the study having 78 NFFs as cross-sectional units with a timeframe from 2016 to 2020. Altman Z-score measures a firm’s FD (higher Z-score means low FD). BOS (Berger, Ofek and Swary) and AC (Almeida and Campello) scores are taken to consider investors’ perspectives of the firm’s FD. The T&D and Lerner indexes are used to assess the level of T&D and competition. The findings reveal that a higher T&D level decreases a firm’s financial stability or increases a firm’s FD. In nonlinear association, it is found that T&D has an inverted U-curved connection with financial stability or U-curved association with FD. It indicates that initially, higher T&D reduces FD, and after a threshold, it increases FD. However, under competition, T&D is not found to be significantly impactful for FD. The study is novel as no previous study has focused on such association under competition and taking investors’ perspective of a firm’s FD.

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evaluate the competition level, we have employed the following equation: Liit = (Pit − MCit)/Pit where, P indicates the net profit. MC is marginal cost taken as the firm's operating cost (Praveena and Samsai 2014). LI represents the Lerner Index.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transparency and Disclosure and Financial Distress of Non-Financial Firms in India under Competition: Investors’ Perspective

Abraham

et al. 2023

JRFM

“…The study uses the Lerner's index (Lerner 1934), the most popular measure of competition or market power. Following Paktinat and Javid (2015) and Praveena and Samsai (2014), the Lerner's index (LI) is computed as follows: LI = (Price-Marginal cost)/price, where marginal cost is proxied by firm's total operating expenses and price is revenue; or LI = profit of the firm i/Revenue of the firm i.…”

Section: Fundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Competition Affect Financial Distress of Non-Financial Firms in India: A Comparison Using the Lerner Index and Boone Indicator

Abraham

et al. 2023

JRFM

Firms’ financial distress (FD) is a major issue for smooth business activities. Timely recognition of FD should be a prime concern; otherwise, it may cause a nasty bankruptcy situation. The FD issue is paramount to researchers, policymakers, and investors. Several factors, whether they are financial or non-financial, may be responsible for financial distress. Such aspects specific to the firms have been explored. Exogenous factors such as competition can also be responsible for a firm’s FD situation. In view of this, this study proposes to determine competition’s impact on financial distress in the Indian context. BSE 100 (“Bombay Stock Exchange”)-listed non-financial firms (NFFs) in India, over a timeframe of 2016–2020, are incorporated in this study. Panel data econometrics is performed for hypothesis testing. This study is novel in its approach, employing multi-technique analysis for measuring financial distress. FD is measured using Altman Z-scores, BOS, and AC distress scores variants. The Boone index (BI) and Lerner index (LI) are undertaken for the competition assessment of NFFs in India. The findings have contrasting views based on BI and LI; BI is positively connected to Z-scores; however, LI negatively connects to Z-scores. The findings suggest that competition (reverse of BI) positively affects financial distress (reverse of Z-score), while competition (reverse of LI) has an adverse effect on FD. It is also found that competition as BI affects FD non-linearly (inverted U shape connection). This means that competition (or market power) initially increases financial distress (or financial stability), and after a specific limit, it reduces financial distress. It can also be said that market power improves financial soundness to a specific limit, and after that, it starts decreasing financial stability. The study’s findings provide fresh and exciting evidence for the connectivity of competition and financial distress. This situation has noticeable implications for all stakeholders and policymakers concerned with the survival of Indian listed firms. The significant connection of competition with financial distress implies that all stakeholders should consider competition an essential element for a firm’s financial distress.

“…Lerner indexThe Lerner index (Lerner, 1934) is the widely used measure of competition or market power. The present study uses the Lerner index (Lerner, 1934), following the methodology employed by Praveena and Samsai (2014) and Paktinat and Javid (2015). We have computed the Lerner index as follows:Where P is price and MC is marginal cost.…”

Section: Altman's Z-scorementioning

confidence: 99%

Does promoters' ownership reduce the firm's financial distress? Evidence from non-financial firms listed in India

Singh

2022

PurposeOwnership concentration (OC) is an essential element of corporate governance (CG) for a firm's performance. The purpose of the study is to investigate the connectivity of OC (particularly considering promoters' holdings) with the firm's financial distress (FD) of non-financial firms (NFF) listed in India.Design/methodology/approachThe panel data regression analysis (applying quantile regression for the 25th quantile, 50th quantile, and 75th quantile) is employed to inspect the connection between OC (promoters' holdings) and the firm's FD (computed using Altman Z-scores). The data for a cross-section of 78 listed firms (non-financial) in India, considering the time frame of five years (2015–16 to 2019–20), are cumulated for the study. The leverage (leverage ratio), competition (Lerner index), valuation (mcap), sales, and profitability (net profit margin) variables are incorporated as control variables.FindingsThe study's findings reveal that OC (promoters' holdings) positively relates to the firm's FD because OC negatively associates with Zscore (as Zscore is inverse to FD). Additionally, the non-linear association also indicates positive connectivity of OC and Zscore (a U shape association), alternatively showing a negative non-linear connection of OC (promoters' holdings) with the firm's FD (inverse U shape association). This result implies that initially, promoters' holdings enhance the firm's FD, and after a maximum threshold, promoters' holdings start reducing FD in non-financial listed firms in India. The findings also show an interesting aspect of OC at different quantiles. The results indicate that a higher OC is powerful when distress is both high and low to achieve stability. Conversely, less OC among promoters is required to achieve such stability when the distress is medium (50th quantile).Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of the study is limited to NFFs listed in India, which is one of the limitations of the present paper. Hence, this does not provide evidence for financial firms. Only one aspect of OC (promoters' holdings) is considered in the current study. However, OC can also be explored for FD in terms of institutional and retail investors. These limitations can be considered as the present study's future scope.Originality/valueMost of the studies regarding OC have explored the broader aspect of OC. However, the current study has narrowed the OC to promoters' holdings. No other study exclusively examines the association of OC (as promoters' holdings) with the firm's FD. Promoters' holdings have a more significant role in a firm's CG practices because of direct involvement of promoters' holdings in business activities. Thus, the present study's findings have notable implications for managers, policymakers, and investors concerned with the financial health of firms.