Capital structure and performance of Malaysia plantation sector

Abstract

The research is conducted on capital structure and performance of Malaysia plantation sector from year 2007 to 2011. The first objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between capital structure (short term debt to total assets, long term debt to total assets, total debt to total assets and total debt to total equity) and corporate performance (return on equity, return on assets, gross profit margin, earnings per share and price earnings) of the companies listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia in the plantation sector. The second objective of this study is to identify whether capital structure significantly influence corporate performance of plantation sector. The third objective of this study is to identify which method of capital structure best explains relationship between capital structure and corporate performance. A total of 41 companies in the plantation sector have been chosen as the sample for this study from financial year 2007 to 2011. Correlation coefficient analysis is used to evaluate the relationship between capital structure and corporate performance of the plantation sector and multiple regression analysis is used to evaluate the influence of capital structure towards corporate performance. From coefficient correlation analysis, the study found that there is relationship between capital structure and corporate performance in Malaysia plantation sector firms. For multiple regressions analysis, the result shows that capital structure has significant influences towards corporate performance in Malaysia plantation sector firms.