Payout Decision pre- And during COVID-19: Evidence from Bahrain

Abstract

There are several significant decisions taken during the lifespan of any firm, payout decision is no doubt a critical one among them. In this paper, we first examine the payout decision and dividend smoothing of firms listed on Bahrain Bourse during the period 2017-2019. Second, we investigate whether the payout decision of Bahraini firms has been affected by COVID-19 by utilizing data from the first two quarters of 2020. The findings show that non-financial firms have a higher percentage of dividends payers and smooth dividends compared to financial firms during the pre-COVID-19 period. Furthermore, the payout decisions of both types of firms were relatively affected by COVID-19.