Financial Variables and Stock Price of Quoted Firms in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines corporate board diversity and market performance of Nigerian quoted firms. Specifically, it evaluates the influence of board gender, board nationality, board independence, board ethnicity and board size on the stock prices of quoted firms in Nigeria. The research design is both descriptive and ex- post facto. The population consists of all firms quoted on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) while the analysis is based on a cross-section of twenty (20) randomly selected companies in a seven-year (2006-2012) study period. Secondary data sourced from financial statements of the sampled firms and the daily official price lists of the NSE are used for the study. The method of analysis is the panel least squares multivariate regression analysis based on the fixed effect estimation. The analysis reveals that while board nationality (BN) has a positive and statistically significant impact on share price (SPRICE), all other variables — board gender (BG), board independence (BIN), board ethnicity (BE) and board size (BS) are negatively related to share price (SPRICE); with only the relationships between the latter and board independence (BIN) on the one hand, and board ethnicity (BE) on the other, being statistically significant. The study recommends to managers' of the nation's corporate organizations and relevant regulatory agencies to ensure that the composition of corporate boards should reflect national and ethnic diversity to promote firm's performance. In particular, the corporate organization should strive to have a mixed board of local and foreign directors to enhance quality board decisions while Nigerian quoted firm should avoid undue board dominance by any ethnic group.