Dividend changes in South Africa: Indicative of the past or future?

This study attempts to answer the question whether changes in dividends contain information about future and/or present changes in earnings as many dividend theories imply. Results show no significant support for the dividend theory. Also, the size of the dividend increases does not predict future earnings. A strong and consistent observation was that companies that had cut dividends show a growth in earnings in the following years. The results also indicate that companies that increase dividends are less likely to experience a drop in future earnings than those firms with similar earnings growth that do not change their dividends.