Multiple Large Shareholders and Earnings Informativeness

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to add to our understanding of the monitoring role of multiple large shareholders by examining their impact on the informativeness of firms' earnings. Design/methodology/approach - We use regression models that relate earnings to stock returns for a sample of 402 French publicly traded firms covered during 2003-2007. Findings - We show that earnings informativeness is significantly positively related to the owner's ultimate cash flow rights. Consistent with the alignment effect, stock ownership aligns management and shareholders interests which reduces managers' incentives to manipulate accounting information. We also find that earnings informativeness is significantly negatively related to the excess control of the ultimate controlling shareholder. This result supports the entrenchment effect and suggests that controlling shareholders have greater incentives to obscure accounting figures when expropriation is likely. Finally, control contestability of the largest controlling shareholder mitigates information asymmetry problems thereby enhancing earnings informativeness. Limitations/implications - Our findings stress the importance of MLS in enhancing internal monitoring and mitigating agency costs. Because France is characterized by a weak legal system, highly concentrated ownership structures and excess control, our results provide valuable insights to mitigate extreme agency problems. Originality/value - The paper adds to the literature on corporate governance and the quality of accounting information by investigating strategic interactions between various blockholders and their impact on earnings informativeness. The study complements prior studies on the monitoring role of MLS by demonstrating that both their presence and control size translate into significantly greater earnings informativeness.Earnings, Earnings informativeness, Excess control, France, Multiple large shareholders, Stock returns

Le recours aux leviers de contrôle:le cas des sociétés cotées françaises

(VF)En France, les actions à droit de vote double, les actions sans droit de vote et les participations indirectes, croisées ou pyramidales, permettent de contrôler une société avec un apport minimal en capital. Cet article analyse l’utilisation et l’effet de levier de ces mécanismes sur un échantillon de 560 sociétés cotées françaises en 2000. Les résultats révèlent le recours peu fréquent aux actions sans droit de vote et aux participations croisées. À l’inverse, les trois quarts des sociétés présentent des actions à droit de vote double et un tiers sont contrôlées via une pyramide. Mais au-delà d’un succès commun, actions à droit de vote double et pyramides ne se confondent pas:les actionnaires publics et financiers paraissent préférer les pyramides ; les actionnaires familiaux, les actions à droit de vote double. Les pyramides dissocient les droits aux cash-flows du contrôle de 43% en moyenne et les actions à droit de vote double, de 12%. Les pyramides apparaissent donc comme le levier de con-trôle le plus puissant.(VA)French law authorizes listed companies to use several devices to achieve control with a relatively small fraction of ownership. Double voting shares, non-voting shares, cross holdings, and pyramids are among these devices. We collected data for a sample of 560 French listed firms for the year 2000. This data reveals the rare use of non-voting shares and crossholdings and the widespread use of both double voting shares and pyramids. The latter two devices seem to be substitutes for each other. The extent of their use seems to depend upon the controlling shareholder’s identity. Pyramids are more frequent among stated-owned firms and firms controlled by a widely held financial institution. Double voting shares are more used by family firms. Pyramiding seems to be a device that ensures a large discrepancy between ownership and con-trol, accounting on average for 43% of the excess control, whereas double voting shares account for a difference of merely 12%.propriété;contrôle;levier;France;ownership;control;leverage device.

COVID-19 media coverage and ESG leader indices

This study examines the dynamic connectedness between COVID–19 media coverage index (MCI) and ESG leader indices. Our findings provide evidence that MCI plays a role in facilitating the transmission of contagion to advanced and emerging equity markets during the pandemic. The connectedness between MCI and ESG leader indices is more pronounced around March and April 2020 at the peak of the pandemic. The US is a net receiver of shocks reaffirming that it was the most affected country during the pandemic. Our results provide implications for investors, portfolio managers, and policymakers in mitigating financial risks during the pandemic

Returns and volatility connectedness among the EurozoDne equity markets

The rising degree of integration among different countries around the world calls for the examination of cross-country connectedness across equity markets. Moreover, the interconnection among some countries – bound by their common economic policies, treaties and agreements, such as Eurozone countries – is stronger than among others. Strong inter-country ties may cause an intense connectedness among their financial systems. This study examines the returns and volatility connectedness among the equity markets of the Eurozone countries. Using the TVP-VAR model, we document strong connectedness among their stock markets. The net transmitters of shocks are the most developed Eurozone stock markets, while Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia are among the most vulnerable to risks from the more developed Eurozone economies. Thus, for any event that triggers risk transmission across the Eurozone equity markets, equity investors in less developed countries will be more vulnerable to risks from the nine more developed economies

Large shareholders and firm risk-taking behavior

We investigate whether multiple large shareholders (MLS) affect corporate risk-taking. Using hand-collected data on French publicly-listed companies over the period 2003-2007, we show that the presence, number and voting power of MLS, other than the largest controlling shareholder (LCS), are associated with greater variability in operating performance (ROA), market value (Tobin’s Q) and stock returns. In contrast, the presence of a single LCS is associated with less variability in firm performance, especially when the divergence between the LCS’s control and cash flow rights is large. This result suggests that MLS are able to prevent the LCS from dictating her preference for low-risk projects in order to protect her future consumption of private benefits. As a consequence, firms undertake better investments regardless of their intrinsic risks, and this eventually leads them to achieve higher performance. MLS are thus confirmed to play a critical role in corporate governance

Competitive pressure and firm investment efficiency: Evidence from corporate employment decisions

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: pub-electronic 2021-10-04Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedAbstract: This study examines the link between product market competition and labour investment efficiency. We find that competitive pressure distorts the efficiency of corporate employment decisions by creating an underinvestment problem. This finding withstands a battery of robustness checks and remains unchanged after accounting for endogeneity concerns. Additional analysis shows that the relationship between product market competition and labour investment efficiency is stronger for firms facing higher competitive threats, greater financial constraints, higher information asymmetry and higher labour adjustment costs. Our results suggest that as competition increases bankruptcy risk, it leads managers to underinvest in labour to avoid incurring labour‐related costs

Fiscal Policy Interventions at the Zero Lower Bound

We build on a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model to explore the macroeconomic consequences of fiscal expansionary shocks during the economic crisis of 2008 in the eurozone. In this setting, we find that the big four eurozone economies (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) can effectively escape from their liquidity trap through fiscal policy interventions caused by government purchases. We estimate the government spending multiplier to be above 1.8 when this policy is associated with a long-term commitment to keeping the nominal interest rate at the zero lower bound, as suggested by Krugman (1998). Notably, the short-term deficit effect on the budget balance can be offset five years after the implementation of a large spending program. We also show that alternative policies with tax cuts that expand the supply do not appear to have the same power in the short run. Moreover, we provide novel empirical evidence that a large government debt renders a government spending policy ineffective

Fiscal Policy Interventions at the Zero Lower Bound

We build on a New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model to explore the macroeconomic consequences of fiscal expansionary shocks during the economic crisis of 2008 in the eurozone. In this setting, we find that the big four eurozone economies (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) can effectively escape from their liquidity trap through fiscal policy interventions caused by government purchases. We estimate the government spending multiplier to be above 1.8 when this policy is associated with a long-term commitment to keeping the nominal interest rate at the zero lower bound, as suggested by Krugman (1998). Notably, the short-term deficit effect on the budget balance can be offset five years after the implementation of a large spending program. We also show that alternative policies with tax cuts that expand the supply do not appear to have the same power in the short run. Moreover, we provide novel empirical evidence that a large government debt renders a government spending policy ineffective

Does the board of directors affect cash holdings? A study of French listed firms

Prior studies show that agency conflicts are important in explaining corporate financial policies and that the board of directors is central to corporate governance. In this study, we examine the role of this governing body in the accumulation of cash reserves. Using a sample of 597 French listed firms during 2001–2007, we find that firms with boards deemed to be effective in mitigating agency problems—that is, those appointing independent directors and splitting chief executive officer and chair positions—accumulate less cash reserves than those with less effective boards. Moreover, two-tier boards are more efficient in mitigating the agency costs of free cash flow, leading to less corporate cash hoarding. These findings support the idea that agency conflicts influence cash management policy and that effective boards of directors play an important disciplinary role in a concentrated ownership setting

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability: The Need for Innovative and Institutional Solutions

The role of innovation and institutional quality for achieving sustainability are important issues tackled by current sustainable development debates, particularly in developing countries. Using a modified environmental Kuznets curve model, the present study improves our understanding of the critical roles of innovation, institutional quality, and entrepreneurship in structural change toward a sustainable future for Africa. Our empirical results show that formal and informal entrepreneurship are conducive to reduced environmental quality and sustainability in 17 African countries however informal entrepreneurship contributes more than formal entrepreneurship to this environmental degradation. The relationship between entrepreneurship and sustainable development turns strongly positive in the presence of high levels of innovation and institutional quality. This study contributes to this emerging research strand by clarifying the conditions that allow African countries to move toward more sustainable economies. Our results highlight the important roles played by innovation and institutions for achieving sustainability in Africa