A Firm-Specific Analysis of the Exchange-Rate Exposure of Dutch Firms

textabstractWe examine the relationship between exchange-rate changes and stock returns for a sample of Dutch firms over 1994-1998. We find that over 50% of the firms are significantly exposed to exchange-rate risk. Furthermore, all firms with significant exchange-rate exposure benefit from a depreciation of the Dutch guilder relative to a trade-weighted currency index. This result confirms that firms in open economies, such as the Netherlands, exhibit significant exchange-rate exposure. We collect unique information on the most relevant individual currencies for each firm with respect to their influence on firm value. Our results indicate that the use of a trade-weighted currency index and the use of individual exchange rates are complements. We also measure the determinants of exchange-rate exposure. As expected, we find that firm size and the foreign sales ratio are significantly and positively related to exchange-rate exposure. In contras