Survey_ABG_2011

Abstract

This study is based on a sample of 220 industrial and commercial firms over the twenty-two-year period from 1984 to 2005. All firms are quoted on at least one of the eight German stock exchanges. Thirty-six firms obtain a listing after the year 1984, but all sample firms are quoted in 1989.4 Overall, the sample consists of an unbalanced panel of data, i.e. 3,932 firm-year observations. Data are collected from Saling/Hoppenstedt Aktienführer, an annual publication which provides detailed company information, including balance sheet and profit and loss account items, historical data on equity raised, shareholdings, share prices, and the date of first quotation. The following data items are gathered from this source: earnings after tax, depreciation, changes in pension provisions and other provisions, dividends per share for both preference and ordinary shares, the number of ordinary and preference shares outstanding, as well as information on ownership of voting equity. The dividend-per-share figures are adjusted for stock splits.