CAPITAL STRUCTURE DECISIONS AND THEIR EFFECT ON NIGERIAN INDUSTRIAL FIRMS

The crux of this study is to evaluate the impact of financing decision ratios on the financial performance of listed industrial goods companies in Nigeria. The study aligned with the ex post facto research design. Data was collected from the thirteen (13) listed industrial goods companies on the Nigerian Exchange Group. All the companies were considered as the population of the study. Data was collected from the annual financial statements of the companies for a period of ten (10) years from 2014 to 2023. One hundred and thirty observations were made and, on those observations, the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) technique was applied for the analysis of data. The study measured financial performance using the return on assets (ROA) while different measures were used to measure the independent and control variables. The study found that the impacts of total debt to total assets and dividend to total debt are significant on return on assets. It was also seen that firm size, firm age, and leverage also play a significant role as control variables. From the findings, the study concluded that focusing closely on the dynamics and interplay of debt financing and the proportion of dividend paid in the face of existing debt structure significantly help out the firms make the right financing decisions as the success of companies mostly depends on the combination of capital obtained and dividend decisions. This percentage decides the level of return on assets. From the findings and conclusion, the study recommended that the management of industrial goods firms should balance the quality of the financial structure through rational financing decisions because appropriate debt capacity and rational dividend payments offer the best advantage to the companies through maximizing return on assets.