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The collective investment schemes in Kenya have witnessed increased volatility in their earnings, resulting in irregular growth in the industry. This necessitates the need to understand the factors contributing to poor financial returns from collective investment schemes. Hence this study sought to investigate the effect of equity investments and bond investments on Kenyan CIS’s performance. The specific objectives were: To assess the effect of equity investments, bond investments on financial performance of collective investment schemes in Kenya. The study was anchored on: modern portfolio theory and the efficient market hypothesis. The positivism philosophy was applied, with the firms adopting an explanatory research design. The target population was 17 Collective Investment Schemes registered by the Capital Markets Authority and were operational in the period 2010 to 2018.  Secondary data was sought from the Capital Markets Authority Annual reports and from the respective websites of the CIS’. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlational analysis and panel regression analysis. Hypotheses were tested at a significance level of 0.05. Findings indicate that equity investment, bond investments have an insignificant effect on CIS’ return on assets. Further, equity investments had a positive and significant effect on liquidity whereas bond investments had an insignificant effect on liquidity. The study recommends that CISs actively revise their equity investments and bond investments to stimulate financial returns.

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) continue to be major players in the economic growth of Uganda as well as many of the emerging economies. The Uganda Investment Authority had projected 5.5% economic growth by 2030 in anticipation of stable market conditions necessary for the sustained financial performance of SMEs. However, the business failure rate of SMEs in Uganda had persistently revolved around 70% in 2018 from 50% in 2004. This problem had been linked to the turbulent market conditions characterized by intensive competition as well as volatile consumption behavior of the customers. Empirical literature indicates that competitive intensity, as well as volatile customer demand, presents a negative impact on financial performance. Hence, the study sought to determine the moderating effect of market conditions on the capital structure-financial performance relationship of SMEs in Uganda. From a population of 218,561 SMEs, a sample of 453 respondents was selected out of which, 423 responded to the questionnaire. Primary data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression techniques. The hypothesis was tested at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings indicated that Market conditions had a positive and significant moderating effect on the capital structure-financial performance relationship (?= 0.175 and p = -0.027). We conclude that market conditions can strengthen/ weaken the effect of capital structure on the financial performance of SMEs. We recommend that SMEs should evaluate the market conditions during the process of deciding the financing mix for their operations to optimize the impact of capital structure on financial performance

Short-term debt is regarded as an important source of financing for Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is because it can be easily accessed and useful during times of emergent working capital shortage. However, short-term debt is the least researched among the components of capital structure, which explains why its contribution to the financial performance of small and medium-sized businesses still lacks empirical validation especially in the Ugandan context. This paper sought to determine the effect of short-term debt on financial performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Uganda. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design to collect and analyse the data. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select SMEs while purposive sampling technique was used to select one key respondent from each of the sampled 453 SMEs in Uganda. Primary data was collected using survey questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression analysis. The findings indicted that short-term debt had a negative and significant effect on financial performance of SMEs as measured by return on assets. The study provides empirical evidence to support the propositions in the extant literature that short-term debt significantly hampers financial performance of SMEs. The study recommends that SMEs should adopt low cost operation procedures to improve profitability. This would lead to accumulated profits that can be used for investment purposes as a means of driving growth among the SMEs without resorting to borrowing. This paper suggests that further research should be conducted to establish the justification for the negative and significant effect of short-term debt on financial performance using qualitative approaches.

Firm value is dependent on corporate which leads to increased value. High valued firms attract more investors. Towards firm value protection, minimum capital requirements were raised by the Central Bank of Kenya from 250 million to 1 billion shillings on commercial banks to cushion bank shareholders value. Despite the increased oversight and regulatory efforts on corporate governance to protect and enhance firm value, some commercial banks have recorded low firm value. Hence, this study sought to investigate the mediating effect of financial performance on the relationship between corporate governance and firm value of commercial banks in Kenya. The study was anchored on Agency Theory. Explanatory research design was adopted. Target population was forty four Kenyan commercial banks, where a census was conducted. Secondary data was collected from published financial statements and bank websites for the period 2009 to 2018. STATA version 13.0 was used for data analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics specifically panel regression was used in data analysis. The study findings established that there is a statistically significant effect between financial performance and firm value of commercial banks in Kenya. Therefore, the study concluded that firms with good financial performance have high firm value. And as such, these calls for the management of the commercial banks improve financial performance which will go a long way in improving firm value. There is also need for Central bank of Kenya, Capital Markets Authority and Nairobi Securities Exchange to emphasis on corporate governance and short term goals to enable achievement of long term goals .  

Stock prices in Kenya have been experiencing drastic volatility over the years. In the year 2015 alone, the value of the listed companies shrunk by about 2.5 billion USD, representing about 25% of the national government annual budget. The performance of the stock market is an important proxy of a country’s economic environment. Rational investors constantly value and revise their portfolio composition so as to maximize their wealth. Whereas effectively diversified portfolio minimizes the unsystematic risk, systematic risks cannot be managed by simple diversification. Investors, therefore, need to understand the effect of these systematic risks on the stock performance. The study sought to determine the relationship between systematic risk factors using Inflation and interest rates and the performance of the stock market in Kenya. The study adopted a positivist philosophy and employed a correlation research design. The study targeted all the stock listed in the Nairobi Securities exchange. The study was underpinned by the Efficient Market Hypothesis, Arbitrage Pricing theory, and used integration analysis to establish the relationships between the variables of the study. The study found a significant long-run positive relationship between interest rate, inflation, and performance of the stock market in Kenya. Investment firms, the financial analyst should use past data on 91 Treasury bills rate and Inflation, to predict the future performance of stock exchange for the benefit of investors.  

The study sought to investigate the mediating effect of housing search on the relationship between apartment household demographics and four residential owner-occupied housing decisions. Using two-stage cluster sampling, a sample of 196 respondents (owner-occupied households) was studied in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study found that housing search has a mediating effect on the relationship between household demographics and choice of neighbourhood, choice of location of house, source of financing and size of apartment house though the mediation was found to be not statistically significant in each of the four relationships. Consequently, formal housing search behaviour was found not to be a popular mode of alleviating information challenges in the housing market since the study recorded very low levels of housing search in support and in contradiction of empirical evidence from housing markets in the West. The study cites implications to policy and practice, limitations associated with the study and makes suggestions for further study.

The study sought to determine if demographics overall have a statistically significant influence on housing decision choices and to ascertain which particular demographics have a statistically significant influence on housing decision choices amongst apartment households in Nairobi County, Kenya. Using a descriptive cross-sectional design, the study sampled 226 apartment households using two-stage cluster sampling with 196 households responding. Using multiple regression analysis (standard) at a significance level of 0.05, the study found that demographics overall have a significant influence on choice of residential neighbourhood (p=0.000) and choice of location of house (p=0.021). Gender, experience and expertise of home owner, composition of household and household expenditure, were statistically significant demographics in explaining choice of neighbourhood decisions; household expenditure levels and expertise of home owner were the only demographics with a statistically significant influence on choice of location of house; the marital status of owner of the house was found to be the only demographic with a statistically significant influence on source of financing decisions; size of family and household expenditure levels were found to be the only demographics with a statistically significant influence on size of house decisions. From the outcome of the empirical investigation, the study makes recommendations to policy and practice; it cites limitations and makes suggestions on areas for further study.

Firm value is dependent on Corporate governance which leads to increased value. High valued firms attract more investors. Towards firm value protection, minimum capital requirements were raised by the Central Bank of Kenya from 250 million to 1 billion shillings on commercial banks to cushion bank shareholders value. Despite the increased oversight and regulatory efforts on corporate governance to protect and enhance firm value, some commercial banks have recorded low firm value. Hence, this study sought to investigate the effect of corporate governance on firm value of commercial banks in Kenya.