The Dividend policy impact on the Market share price Summery:Dividend policy is one of the major decisions in corporate finance, because it affects the financial structure, the flow of funds, corporate liquidating and investors attitudes. The main aspect of dividend policy is to determine the amount of earning to be distributed on shareholders and the amount to be retained in the firm. Divined policy involves the decision to pay out earning instead of reinvesting it in to the firm. The relationship between dividend and the value of the share is not clear defined. The financial manager must understand the various conflicting factors which influence the dividend policy before deciding the allocation of its companys earnings into dividends and retain earnings. This study focuses on the dividend practice and its influence on share market price of major listed companies in Egypt. The number of cash dividend paying companies listed at the Egyptian stock market is seen almost the same in context of total listed companies since last five fiscal years, It is also seen that there is the low degree of positive correlation between the total number of listed companies and the number of cash dividend paying listed companies. Most of the financial companies are not being capable of declaring cash dividend to their shareholders. This study also wrap up that there is no significant difference between average MPS before and after the cash dividend payment.

IntroductionBackground of the StudyIn the last few years Egypt was trying to develop its economy through global trend and cooperation with developed countries. The development of an economy requires expansion of productive activities, which in turn is the result of the capital formation, which is the capital stock of the country. The change in the capital stock of the country is known as investment. Investment is a key factor for capital formation. Investment promotes economic growth and contributes to a nations wealth. Investor desire to earn some return from the investment, without any return there is no any investment. Investment will block, if there is no return. The total expected return include two components one is capital gain and other is dividend. In the capital market, all firms operate in order to generate earnings. Shareholders make investment in equity capital with the expectation of making earning in the form of dividend or capital gains. Thus, shareholders wealth can increase through either dividend or capital gain. Once the company earns a profit, it should decide on what to do with the profit. It could be continued to retain the profit within the company, or it could pay out the profit to the owners of the company in the form of dividend. Dividends are payment made to stockholders from a firms earning in return to their investment. Dividend policy is to determine the amount of earnings to be distributed to shareholders and the amount to be retained or reinvestment in the firm. The objective of a dividend policy should be to maximize shareholders wealth position. Retained earnings are used for making investment in favorable investment opportunities, which in turn help to increase the growth rate of the firm. What and how much it is desirable to pay dividend is always a controversial topic because shareholders expect higher dividend from corporation, but corporation ensure towards setting aside funds for maximizing the overall shareholders wealth. Management is therefore concerned with the activities of corporation that affect the well being of shareholders. That well being can be partially measured by the dividend received, but a more accurate measure is the market value of stock. But stockholders think dividend yield is less risky than capital gain. Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholders. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business i.e. retained earnings, or it can be paid to the shareholders as a dividend. Many corporations retain a portion of their earnings and pay the remainder as a dividend.

The most widely accepted objective of a firm is to maximize the value of the firm and to maximize shareholder wealth. In general, there are three types of financial decisions which might influence the value of a firm: investment decisions, financial decisions and dividend decisions. These three decisions are interdependent in a number of ways. The investments made by a firm determine the future earnings and future potential dividends; and dividend policy influences the amount of equity capital in a firms capital structure and further influences the cost of capital. In making these interrelated decisions, the goal is to maximize shareholder wealth. Dividends are decided upon and declared by board of directors. A firms profits after-tax can either be used for dividends payment or retained in the firm to increase shareholders' fund. This may involve comparing the cost of paying dividend with the cost of retaining earnings. Generally, whichever component has a lower cost that is where the profit after-tax will flow. However, there is a need to strike for a balance because it is a zero sum decision.1 Although firms do not have obligations to declare dividends on common stock, they are normally reluctant to change their dividend rate policy every year as the firms strive to meet stockholders expectation, build a good image among investors and to signal that the firm has stable earnings to the public. The theory of dividend and its effect on the value of the firm is perhaps one of the most important yet puzzling theories in the field of finance. Academics have developed many theoretical models describing the factors that managers should consider when making dividend policy decisions. By dividend policy, we mean the payout policy that managers follow in deciding the size and pattern of cash distributions to shareholders over time. Miller and Modigliani (1961) argue that given perfect capital markets, the dividend decision does not affect firms value and is, therefore, irrelevant. However, most financial practitioners and many academicians believe otherwise. They offered many theories about how dividends affect firms value and how managers should make dividend policy decisions. Over time, the number of factors identified in the literature as being important to consider in making dividend decisions increased substantially. There are plenty of potential determinants for the dividend decisions. The more prominent determinants include protection against liquidity, after-tax earnings of the firm, liquidity and cash flow consideration, stockholders' expectation/preference, future earnings, past dividend practices, return on investment, industry norms, legal constraints, growth prospects, inflation and interest rate. (Foong, Zakaria and Tan, 2007, p.98) The development of an economy requires expansion of productive activities, which in turn is the result of the capital formation, which is the capital stock of the country. The change in the capital stock of the country is known as investment. Investment is key factor for capital formation. Investment promotes economic growth and contributes to a nations wealth. Investor desire to earn some return from the investment, without any

return there is no any investment. Investment will block, if there is no return. The total expected return include two components one is capital gain and other is dividend. In the capital market, all firms operate in order to generate earnings. Shareholders make investment in equity capital with the expectation of making earning in the form of dividend or capital gains. Thus, shareholders wealth can increase through either dividend or capital gain. Once the company earns a profit, it should decide on what to do with the profit. It could be continued to retain the profit within the company, or it could pay out the profit to the owners of the company in the form of dividend. Dividends are payment made to stockholders from a firms earning in return to their investment. Dividend policy is to determine the amount of earnings to be distributed to shareholders and the amount to be retained or reinvestment in the firm. The objective of a dividend policy should be to maximize shareholders wealth position. Retained earnings are used for making investment in favorable investment opportunities, which in turn help to increase the growth rate of the firm. What and how much it is desirable to pay dividend is always a controversial topic because shareholders expect higher dividend from corporation, but corporation ensure towards setting aside funds for maximizing the overall shareholders wealth. Management is therefore concerned with the activities of corporation that affect the well being of shareholders. That well being can be partially measured by the dividend received, but a more accurate measure is the market value of stock. But stockholders think dividend yield is less risky than capital gain. In Egypt only few companies are paying dividend and the other companies are not stable in the payment of dividend. There are some companies who have never paid dividend to their investors throughout their historical background. It has been noticed that company who has risen dividend generally experience on increase its stock price and that a company dont pay dividend or lowers its has a falling stock price trend. It seems to suggest that dividend so matter, is affecting the stock price of the company but several researchers argue the fact that dividend affect stock price, rather it is the information declaration of dividend that affect the stock price. It is fact that dividend work as a simple sufficient signal of managements interpretation of the firms recent performance and its future prospects.

The Problem StatementDividend policy is an integral part of financial management decision of a business firm. Dividend refers to that portion of a firms net earning which are paid out to the shareholders. Whether dividends have an influential on the value of the firm is the most critical question in dividend policy. If dividends are irrelevant, the firm should retain earnings for investment opportunities. If there are not sufficient investment opportunities providing expected returns in excess of the required return, the unused funds should be paid out as dividends. Dividend is the most inspiring factor for the investment on shares of the company is thus desirable from the stockholder's point of view. In one hand the payment of dividend makes the investors happy. But in the other hand the payment of dividend decreases the internal financing required for making investment in golden opportunities. This will hamper the growth of the firm, which in turn affects the value of the stock.

Earnings are also treated as financing sources of the firms. The firm retains the earning; its impact can be seen in many factors such as decreased leverage ratio, expansion of activities and increase in profit in succeeding years. Whereas if a firm pays dividend or not, it may need to raise capital through capital that will affect on risk characteristics of the firm. Therefore there are many dimensions to be considered on dividend theories, policies and practices. Shareholders make investment in equity capital with the expectation of making earnings. Dividend is kind of earning that the shareholders expect form their investment. But, the dividend decision is still a fundamental as well as controversial area of managerial finance. The effect of dividend on market price of stock is the subject matter of the study. There are many empirical studies on dividend and stock price behavior. For example, few of them are Linter (1956), Miller and Modigliani (1961), Durand and May (1960), Friend and Puckett (1964), Fama and Babiak (1968), Elton and Gruber (1970), Frank and Jagannathan (1998), Uddin (2003), Foong, Zakaria and Tan (2007). However, conclusive relationship exists between the amount paid out in dividend and the market price of the share. There is still a considerable controversy concerning the relation between dividend and stock price. Theoretically, the share price should fall down after the book closure by an amount to the amount of cash dividend, in case the company is going to distribute cash dividend. For example, if the share price of ABC Company on one day before the book closure was Rs. 1000 and the company had declared Rs.70 per share as cash dividend, which was to be formalized in the coming AGM. The price per share in the first transaction after the book closure should be around Rs. 930.

Purpose of the StudyThe major objective of the study is to determine the trend and practices of dividend payment by the Egyptian A class listed companies of Egypt from fiscal year 2003/04 to 2008/09 however the specific objective is as follows. To examine the impact of dividend policy on market price of stock of A class listed companies of Egypt. To explore the prevailing practices and effort made in dividend policy among the companies. To identify the regularity and uniformity of dividend paying financial institutions.

Significance of the StudyIn the capital market the investor can earn return in two ways, one is dividend and another is capital gain. The term dividend is defined as a return from investment in equity shares. So dividend is important factor for investor while investing in equity shares. This study helpful to investor to take rational decision like where to invest, how to invest, what portfolio should be made to obtain maximum profit from their investment? When a new company floats shares through capital market, large numbers of people gathers to apply for

owner's certificate. It indicates peoples expectation on higher return of investment in shares. In Egyptian context, most of investors are investing in the stock without adequate knowledge of the company and performance and dividend policies. This study helps to aware the Egyptian investors. This study is useful for the firms perspective too. They know the investor objectives from this study. There are basically two types of objective one is receiving dividend and another is receiving capital gain. Knowing the objective of investor they can develop their plans and policies accordingly. Basically this study is conducted to help the investor while investing in share capital. So that they can make correct decision at right time about the influence of dividend in market price of share and make investment.

1.5 Limitations of the Study1. The study is mainly concentrated on the dividend practice and its influence in prospectof A class listed companies in Egypt. 2. The data being taken from secondary source, therefore authenticity of the data is dependent on the accuracy of the information used. 3. The result and the interpretation are completely rigid and from the view point of the researcher. 4. Among the different aspect of dividend policy only cash dividend is taken for the analysis.

1.6 Organization of the StudyThe whole study has been divided into five chapters.

Chapter 1 IntroductionIn this chapter we deal with the introductory part of the study which includes background of the study, statement of the problem, objective of the study, significance and limitation of the study

Chapter 2 Review of LiteratureThis chapter deals with review of the different literature in regard to the theoretical analysis and review of book, articles and thesis related to this study.

Chapter 3 MethodologyThis chapter deals with research methodology used to carry out the research. It is includes research design, population and sample, source and technique of data collection, data analysis tools.

Chapter 4 Presentation and Analysis of DataThis chapter is the main part of the study, which includes analysis and interpretation of the data using financial and statistical tools. Similarly this chapter also includes the major finding of the study.

Chapter 5 Summary and Conclusions

Here we will give the summary and conclusions of the study and recommendations for further studies.

Chapter 2 Review of Literature2.1 Conceptual Framework2.1.1 Meaning of DividendThe term dividend is defined as a return from investment in equity shares. The profit made by the firm which is distributed to the shareholders termed as dividend. Every firm after making profit either retain the money for further investment or distribute it among the shareholders. The firm should decide whether to keep the money as retained earning or pay the dividend. It may be in cash, share and combination of both. The dividend policy is the policy followed by the firm regarding the dividend versus retention decision. Dividend policy of different organization may same or different, but the policy followed by the firm should be suitable for both the shareholders as well as the firm itself. Dividend policy decision is one of the three decisions of financial management because it affects the financial structure, the flow of funds, corporate liquidating and investors attitudes. Dividend decision of the firm is a very crucial controversial area of financial management. The main aspect of dividend policy is to determine the amount of earning to be distributed the shareholder and the amount to be retained in the firm. When a company pays dividend, the shareholder benefitted directly. If the company retains the funds for investment opportunities, the shareholders can be benefitted indirectly through future increase in the price of their stock. Thus, shareholders wealth can be increase through either dividend or capital gain. Divined policy involves the decision to pay out earning versus retaining them for reinvestment in the firm. Any change in dividend policy has both favorable and unfavorable effects on the firms stock price. Higher the dividend means higher the immediate cash flows to investors, which is good, but lower future growth, which is bad. The dividend policy should be optimal which balances the opposing forces and maximizes stock prices. Since the motive of shareholder is to receive returns on their investment. There is an adverse relation between retained earning and cash dividend. When the amount of retain earning is high, the company declares less dividend and when the high dividend is paid than retain earning is reduced, which reduce the opportunity to reinvest and expansion of the organization. So dividend decision is one of the major decisions of managerial finance. This decision consist the decisive decision of choosing between distributions of profit to shareholders or investing them back into the business. Dividend decision has great influence on financial structure, flows of funds, corporate liquidity and so on. The relationship between dividend and the value of the share is not clear cut. The financial manager must understand the various conflicting factors which influence the dividend policy before deciding the allocation of its companys earnings into dividends and retain earnings.

In fact, dividend is the portion of the net earnings, which is distributed to the shareholders by a company. After successfully completing the business activities of a company, if the financial statement shows the net profit, the Board of Directors (BOD) decides to declare dividend to the shareholders. Therefore, the payment of corporate dividend is at the discretion of the BOD.

2.1.2 Theories Regarding Dividend i. Residual theoryResidual theory is that, in which the first priority is given to the profitable investment opportunities. If there are profitable opportunities, the firm invest is those and residual income (if any) is distribute to shareholders. Residual theory of dividends means, A theory that suggests that the dividend paid by the firm should be the amount left over after all acceptable investment opportunities have been under taken. Using this approach the Firm would treat the dividend decision in three steps as follows: Step 1 Determine the optimum level of capital expenditure which would be the level generated by the point of intersection of the investment opportunities schedule (IOS) and weight managerial cost of capital (WMCC) function. Step 2 Using the optimal capital structure proportion, it would estimate the total amount of equity financing needed to support the expenditures generated in step 1. Step 3 Because of the cost of retained earnings is less than the cost of new common stocks; retained earnings would be used to meet the equity requirement determined in step 2. If retained earnings are inadequate to meet this need, new common stock would be sold. If the available retain earning are in excess to this needs, the surplus amount would be distributed as dividends. (Gitmen, 2001, p.544)

ii. Wealth maximization theoryUnder wealth maximization theory, large dividends is announced and distributed to shareholders in order to maximize the wealth of the shareholders. Basically, it is applicable for those companies, which are just established and to those companies it will be beneficial whose financial profits are is decreasing trends. The main purpose of the wealth maximization theory of dividend is to make assurance to the stockholders that they are interesting in the firm, which has not better market value.

2.1.3 Types of DividendKeeping these theories into considerations, dividend can be paid in different forms. Among them some are discuss below:

a. Stock Dividend/Bonus Share

A stock dividend occurs when the board of directors authorizes a distribution of common stock to existing shareholders. Stock dividend increases the number of outstanding shares of the firms stock. Although stock dividend does not have a real value, firms pay stock dividend as a replacement for a supplement to cash dividend. Under stock dividend, shareholders receive additional shares of the company in lieu of cash dividends. Stock dividend requires an accounting entry transfer from the retained earnings account to the common stock and paid in capital accounts. Rupees transferred from retained earnings = Number of shares outstanding * Percentage of stock dividend * Market price of the stock. This has the effect of increasing the number of outstanding shares of the company as a result the decrease in EPS which effect the reduction in the market price of the share. Since the shares are distributed proportionately, share holders retain his proportionate ownership of the company.

b. Scrip DividendA scrip dividend is a distribution of surplus to the stockholders in the form of notes or promises to pay the amount of dividend at a certain time. The notes are called dividend certificates or scrip. Sometime companies need cash generated by business earning to meet business requirements or with-hold the payment of cash dividend because of temporary shortage of cash. In such circumstance the company may issue scrip dividend payable at future dates.

c. Bond DividendWith the theory and concept of scrip dividend, if dividends are paid in the form of bond (to shareholders), promising that it will mature in future date is known as bond dividend. Therefore the intention and purpose of bond dividend is also the postponement of dividend payment for some time. The only difference between bond and scrip dividend is that bond carries relatively longer maturity date than scrip dividend. Bonds used to pay carry interest and it means that the company assumes the fixed obligation of interest payment annually and principal amount of bond at maturity date. Bond dividend posses the following characteristic: Bond dividends are the means to dividend postponement for a while but more it is

obligation. It couldnt bring back the psychological value as the cash dividend. Bond and scrip dividend are same, only the difference between these are maturity time i.e. scrip has relatively less maturity time than bond dividend.

d. Stock Split and Reserve SplitA method that is commonly used to lower the market price of a firms stock by increasing the number of shares belonging to each shareholder. The effect of a stock split is an increase in the number of shares outstanding and a reduction in the par, or stated, value of shares. The total net worth of the firm remains unchanged. The stock split does not involve any cash payment, only additional certificates representing new shares. A method that is used to raises the market price of a firms stock by exchanging certain number outstanding shares for one new share of stock.

The effect of a reverse split is a decrease in the number of shares outstanding and a\ increase in the par, or stated, value of shares. The total net worth of the firm remains unchanged. The reverse split does not involve any cash payment, only additional certificates representing new shares. When the market price of share of a company is falling gradually, the company may adopt reserve split which may increase the market price of share and help to maintain efficient situation of the company.

e. Stock RepurchaseIt is the process of repurchasing back outstanding share of any company. A corporations repurchase of its stock can serve as a tax advantages substitute for dividend payout. Repurchase have the effect of raising share prices so that shareholders can be taxes at the capital gain rate instead of ordinary dividend rate on cash dividend. Company can repurchase its shares in two ways: Open market repurchase Tender (Offer) repurchase Open market repurchase usually (but not always) involve gradual programs to buyback shares over a period of time. In tender offer, the company usually specifies the number of shares it is offering to repurchase, a tender price and a period of time during which the offer is in effect. If the number of shares actually tendered by the shareholders exceeds the maximum number specified by the company, then the purchases are usually made on a prorata basis. Alternatively, if the tender offer is under subscribed the firm may decide to cancel the offer of extend to expiration date. Share tendered during the extension may be purchased on either pro-rata or first-come, first-served basis. (Weston and Copeland, 1991, 682) The repurchase of stock holds major three reasons i.e. for stock option, for acquisition and for retiring the stock. Stock is repurchased specially when the firm has abnormally high profits and is not in a position to effectively utilize surpluses. The repurchase effects are as follows: The stock repurchases reduce the number of outstanding stocks. It increases EPS and also DPS if the payout ration is not changed, It increases the proportional ownership of existing stockholders. It increases the stock price as net worth per share increases.

f. Cash DividendThe most common way to pay dividend is in the form of cash. A company should have enough cash in its bank account when cash dividends are declared. If the company doesnt have enough cash at the time of paying cash dividend, arrangement should be made to borrow funds. Payment of cash dividend shouldnt lead to liquidity problem for the company. The cash account and the reserve account of a company will be reduced when the cash dividend is paid. Both the total assets and the net worth of the company are reduced by the distribution of cash dividend. Beside the market price of the share affected in most cases by the amount of cash dividend distributed.

Cash dividend has the direct impact on the shareholders. The volume of the cash dividend depends upon earnings of the firm and on the management attitude or policy. Cash dividend has psychological value for stockholders. Each and everyone like to collect their return in cash rather than non-cash means. So cash dividend is not only a way to earnings distribution but also a way of perception improvement in the capital market. The objectives of the cash dividend are: To distribute the earnings to shareholders, as they hold the proportion of the

share. To build an image in the capital market so as to create favorable condition to raise the fund at the needs. To make distribution easy and to account easily.

2.2 Dividend PolicyDividend policy determines the decision of earnings between payment to stockholders and reinvestment in the firm. Retained earnings are one of the most significant sources of funds for financing corporate growth, but dividends constitute the cash flow that accrues to stockholders. (Weston and Copeland, 1991, p.657) The third major decision of the firm is its dividend policy, the percentage of earnings it pays in cash to its stockholders. Dividend payout, of course, reduces the amount of earnings retained in the firm and affects the total amount of internal financing. The dividend payout ratio obviously depends on the way earnings are measured for case of exposition, we use account net earnings but assume that these earning can form true economic earnings. In practice, net earning may not conform and may not be an appropriate major of the ability of firm to pay dividends. (Van Horne, 2000, p.350) Dividend policy refers to the issue of how much of the total profit a firm should pay to its stockholders and how much to retain for investment so that the combined present and future benefits maximize the wealth of stockholders. The dividend policy, however, not only specifies the amount of dividend, but also form of dividend, payment procedure etc. Dividend policy according to the application could be categorized as follows:

a. Stable dividend policyWhen the firm constantly pays a fix amount of dividend and maintains it for all times to come regardless of fluctuations in the level of its earnings, it is called a stable dividend policy. This policy is considered as a desirable policy by the management of companies. Most of the shareholders also prefer stable dividends because all other things remaining same, stable dividends have a positive impact on the market price of the share. By stability, we mean maintaining their positions in relation to a trend live preferably one that is upward sloping. Three of the common used dividend policies are:

i) Constant dividend per shareConstant dividend policy is based on the payment of a fixed rupee dividend in each period. A number of companies follow the policy of paying fixed amount per share as dividend every period, without considering the fluctuation in the earnings of the company. The policy does not imply that the dividend per share or dividend rate will never be increased. When the company reaches new level of earnings and expects to maintain it the annual

dividend per share may be increased. Investors who have dividends as the only source of their income prefer the constant dividend policy.

ii) Constant payout ratioThe ratio of dividend to earning is known as payout ratio. When fixed percentage of earnings is paid as dividend in every period, the policy is called constant payout ratio. Since earnings fluctuate, following this policy necessarily means that the rupee amount of dividends will fluctuate. It ensures that dividends are paid when profits are earned, and avoided when it incurs losses.

iii) Low regular plus extra policyThe policy of paying a low regular dividend plus extras in a compromise between a stable dividend (Or stable growth rate) and a constant payout rate. Such a policy gives the firm flexibility, yet investors can count on receiving at least a minimum dividend. It is often followed by firms with relatively volatile earnings from year to year. The low regular dividend can usually be maintained even when earnings decline and extra dividends can be paid when excess funds are available.

b. No immediate dividend policyIf the company does not declare dividend unless the company earn large income is called no immediate dividend policy. In other words, if there is not any hurry about dividend payment and if it could be paid only when the company earns more profit is known as no immediate dividend policy. This policy is usually pursued the following circumstances: When the firm is new and rapidly growing concern, which needs large amount of funds to finance its expansion program, When the firms excess to capital market is difficult, When availability of funds is costlier, When stockholders have agreed to accept higher return in future. In fact, this policy should follow by issue of bonus shares.

c. Regular stock dividend policyIf the company regularly pays dividends to its shareholders in stock instead of cash, then it is called regular stock dividend policy. Regular stock dividend policy is ale designated as bonus shares. Such policy should follow under the following circumstances: When the firm needs cash generated by earning to cover its modernization and expansion of projects. When the firm is lacking in cash despite high earning, this is particularly true when the firms sales is affected through credit and entire sales proceeds are tied in receivables.

d. Irregular dividend policyIt is the policy in which, the firm does not pay any fixed amount of dividend every year or dividend varied in correspondence with change in level of earning, i.e. higher earnings means higher dividend and vice-versa. The firm with unstable earnings also adopts this policy, when there are investable opportunities the company retains more and when there

are no investable opportunities, the company distributes the earning as dividend or there is not regularity of dividend payment.

e. Irregular dividend policyThis policy is based on the premise that investors prefer to have a firm retain and reinvest earnings rather than pay out them in dividends if the rate of return the firm can earn on reinvested earnings exceeds the rate of return investors can obtain for themselves on other investments of comparable risk. Further, it is less expensive for the firm to use retained earnings than is to issue new common stock.

2.3 Factors affecting Dividend Policy2.3.1 Legal RequirementsThe legal rules provide that the dividends must be paid from earnings either form the current years earnings or from past years earnings as reflected in the balance sheet account retained earnings. State laws emphasize three rules: a) Capital impairment Rules The firm cannot pay dividend out of its paid up capital. If it does so there would be reduction in the capital that would affect the creditors of a corporation. b) Insolvency Rule This rules state that cash dividend should be prohibited, if the company is insolvent. Insolvency in the legal services defined as the situation when the recorded value of liabilities exceeds the recorded value of assets. Similarly in the technical sense, it is the firms inability to pay its current debtors. c) Net profit rule This rule provides that dividend can be paid form past and present earnings.

2.3.2 Liquidity positionThe cash or liquidity position of the firm influences its ability to pay dividends. A firm may have sufficient retained earnings, but if they are invested in fixed assets, cash may not be available to make dividend payment. Thus, the company must have adequate cash available as well as retained earning to pay dividends.

2.3.3 Access to the capital marketsA large, well-established firm with a record of profitability and stability of earnings has easy access to capital markets and other forms of external financing. A small, new or venturesome firm, however, is riskier for potential investors. Its ability to raise equity or debt funds from capital markets is restricted, and it must retain more earnings to finance its operations. A well-established firm is thus likely to have a higher dividend payout ratio than a new or small firm.

2.3.4 Need to repay debt

Firms may have the policy to retire its past debts by means of retained earning. If such alternative are being adopted then such firm will retain more and pays less dividend.

2.3.5 Restrictions in debt contractsDebt contracts, particularly when long-term debt is involved, frequently restrict a firms ability to pay cash dividends. Such restrictions, which are designed to protect the position of the lender, usually state that (I) future dividends can be paid only out of earnings generated after the signing of the loan agreement (i.e. they can not paid out of past retained earnings) and (ii) that dividends cannot be paid when net working capital is below a specified amount. Similarly, preferred stock agreements generally state that no cash dividends can be paid on the common stock until all accrued preferred dividends have been paid.

2.3.6 Growth rate of firmA rapidly growing concern will have constant needs of long-term funds to seize favorable opportunities for which it has to retain more and pays less dividend.

2.3.7 ControlAnother important variable is the effect of alternative sources of financing on the control situation of the firm. As a matter of policy, some corporations expand only to the extent of their internal earnings. This policy is defended on the ground that raising funds by selling additional common stock dilutes the control of the dominant group in that company. At the same time, selling debt increases the risks of fluctuating earnings to the present owners of the company. Reliance on internal financing in order to maintain control reduces the dividend payout.

2.3.8 Stability of earningsA firm that has relatively stable earnings is often able to predict approximately what its earnings will be. Such a firm is therefore more likely to pay out a higher percentage of its earnings than a firm with fluctuating earnings. The unstable firm is not certain that in subsequent years earning will be realized, so it is likely to retain a high proportion of current earnings. A lower dividend will be easier to maintain if earning fall off in the future.

2.3.9 Tax position of shareholdersThe tax position of a corporations owners greatly influences the desire for dividends. For e.g. a corporation owned by largely taxpayers in high income tax brackets tend toward lower dividend payout where as corporations owned by small investors tend toward higher dividend payout.

2.4 Payment Procedure followed by CompaniesThe actual payment procedure is of some importance, and the following is an outline of the payment sequence.

1. Declaration date: This is the day on which board of directors declares the dividend. Atthis time they set the amount of the dividend to be paid, the holder-of-record date and payment date. 2. Holder-of-record date: This is the date the company opens the ownership books to determine who will receive the dividend; the stockholders of record on this date receive the dividend. In that date, the company closes its stock transfer books and make up a list of the shareholders as of that day. 3. Ex-dividend date: The date when the right to the dividend leaves the stock is called the ex-dividend date. In this case, the ex-dividend date is four days before holder of record date. Therefore if someone wants to receive the dividend, he/she must buy the stock four days before the holder of record day. 4. Payment date: This is the day when dividend checks are actually mailed to the holders of record. (Weston and Copeland, 1992, p. 658)

2.5 Ex- dividend Day TestsThe ex-dividend test involved the ex-dividend behavior of common stock prices. Investors buying the stock before ex-dividend date are entitles to the dividend declared; purchases on or after the ex-dividend date are not entitled to the dividend. In one of the earliest published studies on the ex-dividend stock price anomaly is that of Campbell and Beranek (1955) who reversed the general view that stock prices drop by the full dividend amount on ex-days. Using data from the NYSE stocks, they observed that the ex-dividend price drop was 90% of the dividend amount. Durand and May (1960) conducted another seminal work examining the ex-dividend day behavior of American Telephone and Telegraph stock (ATandT) for a time series of 43 consecutive dividends. They found that the average price change from the cum-dividend day to the ex-dividend day was $2.16, or about 4 percent less than the $2.25 dividend. Elton and Gruber (1970) were the first researchers that offered a reasonable explanation for the ex-dividend stock price anomaly. Using a one-year sample with 4,148 dividends, Elton and Gruber (1970) confirmed that ex-day stock prices tend to fall by significantly less than the dividend and developed a model explaining the effect known as the long-term trading hypothesis or the tax-effect hypothesis. Elton and Gruber showed that when dividends are taxed at a higher rate than capital gains, the stock price must drop by less than the dividend for investors to be indifferent between (i) selling the stock cum-dividend and (ii) holding the stock, receiving the dividend, and selling ex-dividend. Hence, in case that an investor decides to sell on the cum-dividend day he receives the cum-dividend price (Pc) and he pays tax at the capital gains rate (tg) on the excess of the cum-dividend price over to the price at which the share was bought (Po). On the other hand, if he decides to sell ex-dividend, he receives a dividend and the ex-dividend price (Pe) but he pays tax on the dividend at the dividend tax rate (td) and he pays tax on the excess of the ex-dividend price (Pe) over to the price at which the share was bought at the capital gains tax rate (tg). The above relationship is given by: Pc (Pc-Po)tg = Pe (Pe - Po) tg + D (1- td) (1)

Rearranging Equation (1) we get:

Elton and Gruber (1970) argued that the statistic1 (Pc -Pe )/ D (or P/D) must then reflect the marginal tax rates of the marginal stockholders and one should be able to infer these tax rates by observing the above ratio. Elton and Gruber (1970) sorted their sample into deciles by the dividend yield and computed the mean P/D for each group. They found that NP/D generally increase with the dividend yield, suggesting that investors in lower tax brackets prefer stocks with higher dividend yields, while higher-bracket investors prefer lower-yield stocks. Thus, Elton and Gruber (1970) confirmed the existence of the dividend clientele effect as firstly proposed by Miller and Modigliani (1961). Frank and Jagannathan (1998) examined the ex-dividend day stock price behavior in the Hong Kong market, where neither dividends nor capital gains were taxed and unlike in the NYSE, in the Hong Kong Stock Market (HKSE) there were no market makers until 1993. They found that stock prices dropped on the ex-dividend day by half the dividend amount. Frank and Jagannathan argued that the unexpected price drop on the ex-dividend day was the result of transactions on the cum-dividend day occurring at the bid price, while transactions on the ex-dividend day took place at the asked price. That is, since for the average investor it is a burden to receive the dividend and then go through the process of collecting it, most investors prefer not to receive it. Market makers, instead, find themselves in a better position to collect the dividend, so they buy the stock on the cumdividend day. As a consequence, on the cum-dividend day most trades occur at the bid price, while on the ex-dividend day most trades occurred at the asked price. (Dasilas, 2007, p.1-8) Similarly other many studies have been made in this matter. In a number of these studies, the evidence is consistent with the previous, namely, that stock prices decline on the exdividend day but less than the amount of the dividend. (Bhattarai, 2007, p.393)

2.6 Quality Rating of Companies in the Egyptian market

The Securities which well conduct on the study were agreed on according to the following criteria:Paid-up capital exceeding 20 million Reported profit for the last three consecutive fiscal years Have at least 1,000 shareholders Shares of the company should be trading in the stock exchange for a price above the face value The company should have submitted the annual report to NEPSE within six months of the end of the fiscal year.

2.7 Legal Provision Regarding Dividend Practice in EgyptCompany Ordinance, 2005 makes some legal provision for dividend payment in Egypt. These provisions may be seemed as under: Dividends and subsections of this section are as follows

Shareholder and Debenture-holder Register BookEvery company should establish shareholder and debenture-holder register book as prescribed by law at company registrar office. 1. Following description should be clearly mentioned in the shareholders register book: a) Shareholders full name and address. b) No. of shares holding by shareholder. c) Total amount paid by shareholder and remaining balance if any. d) Registered date of shareholders certificate. e) Cancellation date of shareholders certificate. f) Ownership right on share after the death of the registered shareholder.

DividendExpect in the following circumstances, dividend shall be distributed among the shareholders within 45 days from the date of decision to distribute them, a) In case any law forbids the distribution of dividends. b) In case of right to dividend is disputed. c) In case dividends cannot be distributed within the time limit mentioned above owing to circumstance beyond anyones control and without any fault on the part of the company. Government owned companies either fully or partly cant issue dividend without permission of government and also necessary direction in the matter of dividend. In case dividends are not distributed with the time limit mentioned in subsection (1), adding interest at prescribed rate.

Only the person whose name stands registered in the register of existing share holders at the time of declaring the dividend shall be entitled to it. The Company cant issue any form/amount as dividend expected separate reserve amount for the distribution of dividend. The Company should deduct the operating cost, deprecation amount, payable, adjustment for previous years losses by-law before distributing dividend from profit. Under this section company can distribute interim dividend if it is provisioned in rules and if the dividend is verified by audit report and attested by the BOD. Except the amount declared from AGM, the company cannot distribute dividend from fund affecting the companys reserve. If the shareholder does not come to take the dividend within the five F/Y from the declaration date, the amount would be safe guarded. If any shareholder comes to take the dividend amount according to section 183 within 1 month of before the expiry date, the notice should be published publicly in national daily. After the dividend declared form AGM, the company should establish separate book of account within 45 days and distribute to the shareholders and the amount should not be used for other purpose by the company.

2.8 Review of the International StudiesLinter (1956) conducted a study, which is focused in the behavioral aspect of dividend policy. He investigated dividend pattern of 28 different companies of America and found that, firm generally predetermines the desired payout and tries to achieve it and rarely considers other factors. The model developed firm is his research is as follows:

Where, DIV*t = Firms desired payment EPS = Earning per share p = Targeted payout ratio a = Constant relating to dividend growth b = Adjustment factor relating to the previous periods dividend and new desired level or dividend where bk Firm having r>k may be referred as growth firm. The optimum payout ratio for a growth firm is 0. The market price per share increases as payout ratio decreases. Normal Firm r=k Firm having r=k may be referred as normal firm. There is no unique optimum payout ratio for a normal firm. One dividend policy is a good as the other. The market price per share is not affected by the payout ratio when r=k. The payout ratio for a normal firm is irrelevant. Declining Firm r