Abstract:
Purpose:
This research study reveals the factors that elaborate the choice of optimal debt to equity
ratio for the listed companies in the Cement sector of Pakistan. The aim ofthis study is to
identify the relation that resides among the four explanatory variables and the leverage of
firms. These four variables include the tangibility of assets, growth, and size of assets and
profitability ofthe firms. The research has been performed on the 17 companies falling in
the cement sector of Pakistan and listed on Karachi slock exchange from the year 2007 to
2014.
Design/Methodolog)’:The investigation is performed using panel data for a sample of IS
of 22 cement firms listed in KSE and this secondary data is collected from the annual
publications of SBP. The time horizon selected for the study is 2007 to 2014. The study
analyzed the data through Pooled regression and Fixed Effects model. Also, the
descriptive statistics and correlation lest is applied.
Findings:The results of the study show that this Model is not significant. Firm's size,
Growth and profitability are negatively related with leverage, whereas Tangibility has a
positive relation with debt. Profitability is found to be statistically significant at the
significance level of 5%. Tangibility of the assets, growth, earnings volatility and tax rate
has statistically insignificant impact on leverage. The overall model is said to be
significant.
Practical Implications: The findings ofthis study suggest that financial managers have to
focus more on growth, size and profitability to find out the optimal capital structure. The
outcomes of this study are more consistent with Pecking Order theory which means that
chemical firms should use retained earnings first for new financing and then go for debt
financing. Ifthe firms have more tangible assets then they can acquire more debt.
