Dividend Payment and Development Abilities of Companies – Analysis on the Example of Listed Companies

Abstract

The relationship between dividend decisions and investment decisions of companies has been the subject of scientific analyses and inquiry for decades. They show that the tendency of companies to pay dividends and their amount are determined among other things by their stage of development. According to the theory of dividends based on the life cycle, most income dividend is spent on dividends by companies in the phase of maturity, because their investment capabilities are limited and the demand for external capital is little. The aim of the article is to check whether the assumptions of this theory are true in Polish conditions. The analysis included 75 companies, which in the years from 2014 to 2016 each year shared the profits with their shareholders. With regard to the regularity of paying dividends these companies have been defined as dividend companies. By studying the relationship between the amount of dividends, net financial results and the value of equity and assets of the companies, it was demonstrated to what extent the payment of dividends determines the change as far as their material and capital resources are concerned. The negative correlation between the amount paid dividends and an increase in assets and equity was confirmed, which is consistent with the theory of dividends based on the life cycle of a company.