This research investigates the explanatory factors governing the dividend payout to shareholders of blue-chip companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. In spite of continuous attention offered by empirical research on dividend payout of publicly-listed companies, paradoxically only few studies exclusively examined the explanatory factors from the perspective of blue-chip companies. Recognizing the capability of bluechip companies to serve as a stalwart indicator of stock market condition as well as a consistent income source to shareholders, more research should be carried out for better inference on the companies’ dividend payout decision. This research is using 522 observations from a sample of 18 Malaysian blue-chip companies over a 29-year period (1990 to 2019) and utilizes a panel data regression analysis for the estimation of the impact of eight factors, namely, systematic risk, leverage, free cash flow, lagged dividends, market-to-book value, profit growth, total asset turnover, and company size. Measuring dividend payout using two specifications (dividend/earnings and dividend/total assets), this research reveals that systematic risk and free cash flow have a significant and negative impact on dividend payout. Meanwhile, past year dividends, market-to-book value, profit growth, total asset turnover and company size have a significant and positive impact on dividend payout.

The study aims to investigate factors that determine dividend payout policy using 336 non-financial firm year observations covering the period 2005 to 2016 in Malaysia. We found a significant positive relationship between corporate board size, board members average age, board tenure and dividend payout policy. We also found a strong negative effect and statistically insignificant relationship of board diversity, board independence, CEO duality and dividend payout policy. Additional, financial leverage has a negative effect on dividend payout policy. It is also noticed that firms with diverse boards are more likely to pay dividends and tend to pay larger dividends than those with non-diverse boards. Our results suggest that board diversity has a significant impact on dividend payout policy. Impact of board diversity on dividend payout policy is particularly conspicuous for firms with potentially greater agency problems. Our findings are consistent with the argument that corporate board traits enhancement positively affect the dividend payout policy which is beneficial for shareholders. This study offers useful insights into the current global debate on board traits and its implications for firms. The dividend payout policy signals good news to investors. Corporate board traits and firm’s financial decision are the factors that disrupt the dividend decision.

This study aims to investigate the determinants of dividend payout of Oil and Gas industry of Pakistan using secondary data from published annual reports from 2008 to 2014 listed on KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange). Dividend payout can be affected by profitability, firm size, financial leverage, sales growth, investment opportunities, liquidity, business risk, and ownership structure. Panel data technique used due to panel characteristics of available data with ordinary least square regression model to find out the impact of set of explanatory variables on the dividend payout using the Stata. Financial leverage, sales growth and business risks are the most significant variables of the study where financial leverage and business risk have significant negative effect on dividend payout while sales growth has favorable positive impact on dividend payout. Results revealed significant positive link of profitability and firm size with dividend payout whereas government ownership is negatively associated with dividend payout. Investment opportunities, liquidity and managerial ownership showed insignificant relationship with dividend payout. This Suggests that dividend payout policy is dependent on business strategies including both investment and financing decisions. Financial managers should consider these factors while formulating dividend policy of the firm.