Payout Decision pre- and during COVID-19: Evidence from Bahrain

There are several significant decisions taken during the lifespan of any firm, payout decision is no doubt a critical one among them. In this paper, we first examine the payout decision and dividend smoothing of firms listed on Bahrain Bourse during the period 2017–2019. Second, we investigate whether the payout decision of Bahraini firms has been affected by COVID-19 by utilizing data from the first two quarters of 2020. The findings show that non-financial firms have a higher percentage of dividends payers and smooth dividends compared to financial firms during the pre-COVID-19 period. Furthermore, the payout decisions of both types of firms were relatively affected by COVID-19.