The Impact of Debt Structure on Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from Nigerian Quoted Firms

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical investigation of the impact of debt structure on the performance of Nigerian quoted firms. It was conducted using 12-year annualized panel data spanning the period 2001-2012 for cross section of 43 firms from different sectorial classifications. The data were collated from the annual reports of the sampled firms and Nigeria Stock Exchange factbooks. The study employed three regression estimations (Pooled OLS, Fixed Effects and Random Effects) as a result of unobserved heterogeneity in the dataset. The outcome from the regression estimations showed that debt structure has negative and significant impact on the performance of Nigerian quoted firms within the period under review. The study concludes that debt structure contribute negatively to performance of Nigerian quoted firms, thereby agree with pecking order theory.