Davies D Oluwole-Ogunyemi , Kevin Thomas , Darius du Plessis , Adele Oosthuizen
Abstract
A global crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic may strain liquidity and force companies to revisit their assumptions about the optimum capital structure. While numerous researchers have investigated the impact of COVID-19 on capital structure, most were conducted in developed countries, where systematic risk is lower and financing more accessible. This research seeks to bridge the gap by exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the capital structures of the Top 40 JSE-listed companies using data spanning 2018 to 2022. The study used fixed effects regression models to test the moderating effect of the pandemic on the relationship between specific economic factors and companies’ short-term, long-term and overall gearing ratios. Contrary to expectations, the research found no significant relationship between COVID-19 and any of the capital structure ratios of the Top 40 JSE-listed companies. However, The analysis revealed that company-specific factors, including liquidity, profitability, growth, company size and tangibility, play a statistically significant role in understanding some of the variances in the overall, short-term, and long-term gearing levels of the Top 40 JSE-listed companies. This study contributes valuable insights into the dynamics of capital structure adjustments in the context of developing countries during a global crisis, shedding light on the resilience or stability exhibited by the Top 40 companies listed on the JSE in the face of the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.