Stock market reactions to layoff announcements – analysis of the renewable energy sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Kunert ◽  
Dirk Schiereck ◽  
Christopher Welkoborsky
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Stock Market Reactions

Purpose This study aims to analyze stock market reactions to layoff announcements in the renewable energy sector. The global renewable energy sector and most of the producers of wind and solar energy equipment are struggling. While changes in the regulation and in the promotion of energy production from renewable sources reduced the attractiveness of these technologies, many involved companies had to downsized their workforce to increase performance. The public often perceives these announcements as a way of increasing shareholder wealth at the cost of the employees. Support for this claim is often given in the form of isolated case study considerations. However, the case may be different for the renewable energy sector as changes in the overall institutional environment have sustainably deteriorated the prospects of this industry. Design/methodology/approach This study analyses stock market reactions of 65 layoff announcements made by companies in the renewable energy industry in the years from 2005 to 2014. The reactions are measured by cumulative abnormal returns, which are obtained by using the event study methodology. Findings It shows a significantly negative market reaction to the announcement of a layoff plan on the event day. The findings are generally in line with our expectations and underline the negative perspectives of the sector from a capital market point of view and the declining importance of the sector with respect to employment numbers. Originality/value The results of this study are important for investors when estimating the capital market reactions to layoff announcements and when they form their own expectations regarding possible future layoff announcements. For the public, the results are of interest as the prejudice, that layoff plans are used to increase shareholder wealth, can be dismantled. The opposite is shown.

Sovereign rating announcements and the integration of African banking markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 484-500
Author(s):  
Jianan He ◽  
Dirk Schiereck
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Credit Rating ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rating Changes ◽  
Stock Market Reactions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the information spillover of sovereign rating changes on the market valuation of bank stocks in Africa. Design methodology First, the authors apply event study methodology to evaluate the stock market reaction of African bank stocks on the announcement of sovereign rating changes. Second, the cross sections of the abnormal returns are examined by multivariate regression analyses. Third, the findings are proved for robustness. Findings The authors investigate how 37 African banks react to 203 African sovereign rating announcements from the three leading credit rating agencies over the period 2010-2016 and find that negative announcements trigger the significant positive stock reactions of African banks, especially contributed by banks in the non-reviewed African countries. These unusual reactions can be explained by the low integration and the severe information asymmetry of African capital markets. The authors further locate the influencing factors of banks’ reactions and show that rating downgrades magnify the abnormal effects while the membership of the African Free Trade Zone mildens the stock market reactions. Research limitations/implications Limitations are given by the limited sample size. There are only limited numbers of publicly listed African banks with sufficient trading data. Practical implications The paper argues for a critical dependency of African bank equity valuation in the case of sovereign debt rating changes in neighbor countries. This observation is important for the risk assessment of African banking assets. Originality/value The paper is the first to examine stock market reactions on sovereign rating announcements for the evaluation of capital market integration in Africa. It thereby underlines the usefulness of this simply to apply approach as an instrument for ongoing examining the progress in capital market development in emerging countries.

The effect of earnings management on shareholder value and the role of board gender diversity

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-334
Author(s):  
Viput Ongsakul ◽  
Pornsit Jiraporn ◽  
Young Sang Kim
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Earnings Management ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Board Gender Diversity ◽  
Stock Market Reactions

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether shareholders are convinced by earnings management. This study also explores how board gender diversity (the presence of female directors on the board) may influence the extent to which shareholders are convinced by earnings management. Design/methodology/approach The authors estimate the stock market reactions to the September 11 terrorist attack using the standard event study methodology. The authors then run a cross-sectional analysis to investigate whether the market reactions are influenced by the extent of earnings management. Furthermore, the authors test how board gender diversity affects the degree to which earnings management influences the stock market reactions. Findings The study results show that the market reactions to the attack are substantially mitigated for firms that exercise more upward discretionary accruals, implying that earnings management is successful in convincing shareholders. Additional analysis corroborates the results, including propensity score matching, instrumental variable analysis and using Oster’s (2019) method for testing coefficient stability. Crucially, the authors find that board gender diversity helps shareholders see through earnings management better. The presence of female directors significantly weakens the extent to which shareholders are persuaded by earnings management. Originality/value This study is the first to explore the effect of earnings management on shareholder wealth using the September 11 terrorist attack. The research design is less vulnerable to endogeneity and is thus much more likely to show a causal effect of accounting accruals on shareholder wealth.

scholarly journals The Wealth Effect of Corporate Water Actions: How Past Corporate Responsibility and Irresponsibility Influence Stock Market Reactions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafia Afrin ◽  
Ni Peng ◽  
Frances Bowen
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Wealth Effect ◽  
Shareholder Wealth ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Insurance Effect ◽  
Stock Market Reactions ◽  
Marginal Returns

AbstractEnsuring access to clean water is one of the most important development and health challenges of the twenty-first century. Given the manifold impacts of business activities on water resources, corporate water actions should be of central concern to business ethics researchers. Yet so far we know too little about whether business activities that impact on water resources are noticed or how corporate water actions are valued by a firm’s stakeholders, including by financial markets. In response, we conduct an event study to investigate the shareholder wealth effect of reports of corporate water actions. We explore stock market reactions to water actions by S&P 500 firms from 2005 to 2017, showing that the market reacts positively to reports of responsible water actions and negatively to irresponsible actions. We further explain that these abnormal returns to water actions are associated with a firm’s past performance on ethical issues, arguing that the reputational effects from prior corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility influence market reactions. Our analysis provides evidence that there are diminishing marginal returns to responsible water actions for firms with records of past responsibility and an offsetting effect for those with past irresponsibility. Similarly, we demonstrate an insurance effect that limits punishment for irresponsible water actions for firms with responsible performance records and diminishing negative marginal returns for those already seen to be irresponsible. This study is the first to show that shareholders recognize market value in corporate water actions and are prepared to award or punish firms in stock markets based on their impacts on water.

Stock market reactions to voluntary integrated reporting

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzuka Nakajima ◽  
Yushi Inaba
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Event Study ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
Stock Market Reactions ◽  
Voluntary Adoption ◽  
Event Study Methodology

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of voluntary adoption of integrated reporting on the stock prices of firms in Japan. Design/methodology/approach The event study methodology was used to analyze the stock market reactions to voluntary integrated report (IR) publication. Abnormal returns were estimated for 1,602 observations of 490 firms publishing IRs in Japan using the market model. The t-test, the Boehmer et al., 1991 test and the generalized sign test examined the significance of the cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs). Findings The study reveals that the stock market reacts positively to voluntary IR publication by firms, especially in 2019 and 2015. Additionally, it reveals a tendency for higher CAARs around IR publication dates than around corporate social responsibility report publication dates, especially in 2016 and 2015. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study include the possibility of self-selection bias and omitted variable bias. Practical implications This study suggests that firms can earn higher abnormal returns in the stock market through environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure in IRs, corroborating the recently rising investor interest in voluntary integrated reporting in Japan. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on the value relevance of voluntary adoption of integrated reporting by providing evidence of firms achieving significantly positive abnormal returns around voluntary IR publication dates. There is no published analysis on this topic using multitudes of sample firms using the event study methodology.

Big is beautiful: the information content of bank rating changes

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fieberg ◽  
Finn Marten Körner ◽  
Jörg Prokop ◽  
Armin Varmaz
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Stock Returns ◽  
Information Content ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Too Big To Fail ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Small Banks ◽  
Rating Changes ◽  
Stock Market Reactions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the information content of about 3,300 global bank rating changes before and after the Lehman bankruptcy in September 2008 to assess if differences in stock market reactions for small and big banks emerge. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis of the stock market reactions of rating changes (upgrades and downgrades) and bank’s size (small and big) is conducted by an event study approach. Findings – The authors find that while upgrades are not associated with significant abnormal bank stock returns, downgrades have a significantly negative effect. This result holds for both small and big banks, while negative abnormal returns are considerably stronger for the former. For small banks, the authors observe an increase in negative cumulative abnormal returns post-Lehman. The lack of a reaction to large banks’ rating downgrades in the narrow [−1,+1] event window indicates that their stock prices may, to some extent, be insulated from negative rating information even post-Lehman, which the authors attribute to an implicit “too big to fail” subsidy anticipated by equity investors. Originality/value – This paper provides insights to the differences in the information content of changes in small and big banks’ credit rating on stock returns that is unrelated to the well-known size effect. Compared to small banks, big banks seem to some extent be insulated from negative rating changes even post-Lehman – contributing to the on-going too big to fail debate.

Value creation through expanding the online distribution channel

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 714-729
Author(s):  
Frank Wiengarten ◽  
Hugo K.S. Lam ◽  
Di Fan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Distribution Channel ◽  
Chain Process ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Creation Process ◽  
Stock Market Reactions ◽  
Value Creation Process

PurposeCurrent literature provides limited insights into the supply chain contexts within which e-commerce can create higher value for firms. To address this literature gap, this research explores the value potential, and thus value creation process, of e-commerce initiatives for supply chain distribution channel expansions.Design/methodology/approachUsing secondary data collected from multiple sources, this research conducted an event study to examine the stock market reactions to the announcements of e-commerce initiatives of Chinese firms.FindingsThe results indicate that the e-commerce initiatives increase average firm value by CNY 295.29 million in a three-day window around the initiative's announcement date. Moreover, we find that such stock market reactions are more positive for firms with poor operating performance, and more negative when firms deploy initiatives on their own (rather than third-party) platforms. Further, companies that integrate or complement their online sales with an offline sales channel experience more positive stock market reactions.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights into the value creation process of e-commerce from an operation and supply chain process perspective.

scholarly journals Market reactions to CSR news in different industries

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-261
Author(s):  
Andrea Pérez ◽  
María del Mar García de los Salmones ◽  
Carlos López-Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Stock Returns ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
The Media ◽  
Stock Market Reactions ◽  
Corporate Social

PurposeBased on the premises of the institutional theory, in this paper, we explore the effects that the media coverage of positive and negative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) news have on the stock market value of companies in diverse industries.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 195 online articles published in the most important Spanish business newspaper, we implement an event study and a regression analysis.FindingsThe findings show that positive and negative CSR news, usually, have significant impacts on the stock market value of companies. Specifically, the market reaction is stronger under the announcement of negative news in all industries (i.e. basic, energy, finance and goods and services), although positive news also cause significant positive stock market reactions in the finance and basic industries.Originality/valueAlthough the media plays an indispensable role in the dialogue around CSR, much of the research focused on the role of the media on the CSR-CFP link does not consider how the industry variable can affect the abnormal stock returns derived from CSR news. This research contributes to this gap in the literature by exploring the differences that exist in the stock market reactions to CSR news based on the industry in which the companies operate.

Systemic operational risk

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Kaspereit ◽  
Kerstin Lopatta ◽  
Suren Pakhchanyan ◽  
Jörg Prokop
Keyword(s):  
Factor Model ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Operational Risk ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Banking Market ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Stock Market Reactions ◽  
High Degree

Purpose The aim of this paper is to study the information content of operational loss events occurring at European financial institutions with respect to the announcing bank’s industry rivals from an equity investor’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct an event study to identify spillover effects of operational loss events using the Carhart (1997) four-factor model as a benchmark model. In addition, they conduct multiple regression analyses to investigate the extent to which firm-specific factors or the market environment affect abnormal returns. Findings They observe significant negative abnormal returns following operational loss announcements exceeding € 50 million for both the announcing firms and their competitors. In addition, they find that stock market reactions occur only within a very small event window around the announcement date, indicating a high degree of market efficiency. Finally, abnormal returns tend to be insignificant for smaller loss amounts. Originality/value While operational risk is often believed to be strictly firm-specific, the results show that large operational risk events are not purely idiosyncratic; rather, they are systemic in the sense that they have contagious effects on non-event banks. Thus, the authors shed new light on how operational risk affects equity investors’ investment behaviour in an opaque and highly interconnected banking market.

scholarly journals Stock Market Reactions to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership’s Approval: Evidence from Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 462-490
Author(s):  
Son Tung Ha ◽  
Thi Hong Hanh Pham ◽  
Thi Nguyet Anh Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Stock Exchanges ◽  
Market Returns ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Stock Market Performance ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
Stock Market Reactions ◽  
Event Study Methodology

We examine the stock market performance of Vietnam’s listed firms in response to the country’s approval of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Employing an event study methodology, we first calculate the abnormal returns of all listed Vietnamese firms around the CPTPP’s approval date. Then, we attempt to link these abnormal returns to firms’ characteristics. We find evidence that the announcement of the CPTPP’s approval is associated with positive abnormal returns for Vietnam’s listed firms. We also find considerable heterogeneity in the magnitude and pace of the impacts of the CPTPP’s approval on market returns across Vietnam’s two stock exchanges. However, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that the market did not react to the CPTPP’s approval at the sectoral level.

scholarly journals Stock Market Reactions to Financing and Payment Decisions for European Mergers and Acquisitions

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-89
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Bessler ◽  
David Kruizenga ◽  
Wim Westerman
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Market Reactions ◽  
Valuation Effects ◽  
Payment Methods ◽  
Cumulative Abnormal Returns ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
Acquisition Announcements ◽  
Stock Market Reactions

Aim: We analyze stock market reactions to merger and acquisition announcements for firms in Europe and contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence how the decisions with respect to alternative financing sources (equity or debt) and the methods of payment (cash or stock) affect the magnitude of the valuation effects.   Research design: An event study methodology is applied to 717 M&A transactions. We analyze the size of the cumulative abnormal returns using the financing sources and payment methods and other variables as the relevant determinants.   Findings: The cumulative abnormal results suggest that target shareholders and bidder shareholders in private deals benefit from mergers and acquisitions. The effect found is centered around the announcement date, making our findings consistent with market efficiency. Debt financed deals outperform equity financed deals and cash paid M&A outperform stock paid M&As, due to information asymmetry, signaling and agency effects.   Originality: This study adds to our understanding of the relevance of the financing sources and the payment methods for mergers and acquisitions in Europe.   Implications: This study may help practitioners to better assess the valuation effects of alternative financing sources and payment methods when acquiring other firms.     JEL: G32, G34

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