SHORT TERM DEBT AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED OIL AND GAS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study unveiled some salient relationship between debt structure and financial performance of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria for the period 2008-2107. The aim of this study is to empirically ascertain the effect of debt structure on profitability of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study has contributed to the empirical body of literature on debt structure and financial performance of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. It aids to understanding the relationship between institutional factor on Nigerian firms debt structure and the proportionate effect on financial performance. More so, short term debt (STD) was found to have negative significant effect on financial performance on ROCE, with a positive relationship on NPM of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study therefore, concluded that short term debt is one of the strong determinants of the financial performance of listed oil and gas firms in Nigeria. The study recommends that further work is necessarily required in other sectors in Nigerian economy along with developing new hypothesis and also to design new variables to reflect the institutional influences. In addition, another work is needed urgently to lay a solid foundation on the resultant relationship between the use of equity and financial performance of list firms (oil & gas) in Nigeria using the same period of study along with different proxies as measures of financial performance.