Stock splits and stock return behaviour: how Germany tries to improve the attractiveness of its stock market

This paper analyses the return behaviour of German stocks following a wave of 10- for-1 stock splits. The splits were triggered by a legislative initiative (KmfG), designed to enhance the attractiveness of the German stock market. To avoid any size effects, the sample of 40 firms that executed a split during 1994-1996, was divided into two groups according to their market capitalization. Split-induced positive abnormal returns, as suggested by the signaling hypothesis, could not be revealed over the 30-day observation period. A decrease in daily trading volume was found for the sample of high market capitalization stocks. The mean difference in daily trading volume was approximately 21.9%. The results also indicate an inverse correlation between firm size and the change in trading volume. The volatility of both stock samples' daily returns has increased, supporting the results of most of the previous research. While only the high cap sample displayed a decrease in systematic risk, both samples experienced an increase in non-systematic risk following the split. These results cannot support the rationale behind the KmfG with regard to suggested effects of stock splits on stock return characteristics.