eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY:

This Master's Thesis objects to expand the existing literature related to signalling through special dividend announcements using evidence from Finnish special dividend announcements during 2000 - July 2011.

METHODOLOGY AND DATA:

The paper examines the significance of average abnormal returns gained by the shareholders of a company announcing payment of special dividend using event study methodology. The data consists of 65 special dividend announcement during the period of January 2000 - July 2011 by companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange (until year 2008) or NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (from 2008 onwards). Companies declaring special dividends were initially identified from the Kauppalehti online service that provides dates and amounts of dividend payments for Helsinki-listed companies. Also, Thomson One -database was used to cross-check the payments and dates.

MAIN FINDINGS:

In my study, I find that statistically significant abnormal returns occur during the special dividend announcements. In addition, I find that on average the cumulative average abnormal return during the event window of 21 days is close to the size of the special dividend.