CHARACTERISTICS OF LISTED CONSUMER GOODS FIRMS IN NIGERIA AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE

This study examines the influence of characteristics of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria on their capital structure. The objectives are to investigate the influence of firm size, firm uniqueness, firm growth and firm profitability on the capital structure of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria for the period of ten years from 2008 to 2017. The dependent variable for this study is capital structure while the independent variables are the firm size, firm uniqueness, firm growth and firm profitability. The study made use of descriptive statistic, correlation matrix and generalized method of moments (GMM) to analyse the panel data in order to determine the relationship between the variables. The results of the analyses showed that firm size, firm uniqueness and firm profitability significantly influence the capital structure of listed goods firms in Nigeria while firm growth does not significantly influence the capital structure of listed consumer goods firms Nigeria. The study recommends that listed consumer goods firms should promote growth and profitability by cutting down cost by using the best practice and as well encourage the use of internal sources to finance projects over external sources in order to put the firms in safety net in time of dwindling business income and to avoid bankruptcy.