Interrelationships between financial ratios and dividend policy: the evidence of healthcare equipment and services sector in Malaysia / Misya Maisarah Mohd Syaharuddin

A company's dividend policy is measured by the dividend payout ratio which is the total amount of dividend paid out to its shareholders relative to the company's net income while the ability of a company to make profit is measured by its financial performance, which is generated from the revenue and aggregate expenses line items on the income statement. Financial performance consists of calculating financial ratios analysis such as liquidity, activity, leverage and profitability ratio. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between financial ratios analysis and dividend of Malaysia's healthcare equipment and services sectors. This analysis is also to investigate or establish the effects of the elements such as activity, liquidity, leverage and profitability ratios that affect dividend payout ratio of healthcare equipment and services companies that had been listed under Bursa Malaysia. The international economy, especially the healthcare industry, has recently been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. The significant business opportunities that have developed as a result of the pandemic have piqued the interest of investors in this industry. As a result, it is important to recognize the factors that influence healthcare companies' dividend policy in a developing market especially in Malaysia (Latif et al., 2021). All the information for this research is collecting data from the sampled sectors of healthcare equipment and services listed under Bursa Malaysia that are related in companies' annual reports from 2011 until 2020. In this research, dividend policy (DPR) is chosen as a dependent variable. It is measured by its independent variables which are liquidity, activity, leverage and profitability ratios which are measured by current ratio (CR), total assets turnover ratio (TATO), debt ratio (DR) and return on investment ratio (ROI) respectively.