EFFECT OF CASHFLOW ON CORPORATE PERFORMANCE IN CONSUMER GOODS SECTOR IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of cash flow on corporate performance of the consumer goods sector in Nigeria for the period 2011 to 2020. The work was anchored on the Agency’s Theory. The study employed an ex-post facto research design. The population of the study consists of all the listed firms in the consumer goods sector which have a total of thirty-four companies and the non-probability sampling technique of purposive sampling was adopted for this study. The data for the study was collected from the audited financial statement of the eleven selected companies from the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The data were analyzed using multiple regression. The result from the data analysis revealed a positive and significant relationship between operating cash flow and return on assets of the listed consumer goods sector in Nigeria while investing cash flow and financing cash flow revealed a negative and insignificant relationship. Based on the findings, the study concludes that negative net cash flows generated from investing activities are associated with weak corporate performance and are capable of decreasing consumer goods sector performance. Hence the study recommended that the consumer goods sector should adopt what is called backward integration and firms in the consumer goods sector should give due relevance and attention to operating cash flow to improve their corporate financial performance.