The impact of the crisis caused by coronavirus on business decisions of the companies whose shares are listed on the Banja Luka stock exchange: Example of the dividend payment decision

Abstract

The subject of this paper is an analysis of the impact of the crisis caused by coronavirus on business decisions of issuers whose shares are listed on the Banja Luka Stock Exchange, through the example of dividend payment decisions. For the purpose of determining the factual situation, we observed publicly available financial reports of all companies that paid dividends from profits for 2018 and 2019 and made a comparison of profit retention rates in the two observed periods. We also analyzed other available information on the operations of these issuers. The research results show that in 10 out of 16 cases in which there was dividend payment from profits for 2019, the rate of profit retention increased compared to 2018. In addition to the mentioned 16 cases of dividend payment from the profit for the previous year, two cases were recorded in which dividend payment was made, but from the accumulated profit of previous years, so that the retention rate was not calculated for these issuers. If we take into account the fact that, in almost all cases, the decision on the (non-)payment of dividends was made at a time when uncertainties regarding coronavirus were already present in Republika Srpska, it can be concluded that the impending crisis had an impact on 2019 net results distribution decisions.

Keywords

• covid19
• coronavirus
• pandemic
• dividend
• profit retention rate
• management
• corporate finance
• banja luka stock exchange