Impact of Capital Structure on the Performance of Textilesector in Pakistan: Examining the Moderating Effect of Liquidity

Purpose: The basic aim of this study is to investigate how capital structure influences the performance of firms from textile sector listed at Pakistan Stock Exchange, taking liquidity of the firms as a moderator. Methodology: Data of 30 listed textile firms is taken from their financial statementsfor a period of ten years from 2007 to 2016.Analysis has been conducted using the Ordinary least square (OLS) regression. Two measures of capital structure (debt ratio and debt-to-equity ratio) have been used to find out its impact on three performance measures (return on assets, return on equity, and earnings per share). Findings: The variable, total debt ratio does not have any significant effect on all the three firm performance measures (return on asset, return on equity and earnings per share). Debt-to-equity ratio variable also does not have a significant impact on two firm performance measures (ROA and ROE). It however has a significant, negative impact on EPS. In case of liquidity as a moderator, it is found that liquidity acts as the significant moderator between the debt ratio and return on assets whereas liquidity factor is significant in case of relation between debt –to-equity variable and two performance variables return on assets and earnings per share.. Practical implications: Practically this study is important from managerial perspective as the appropriate decision for choosing a level of capital structure vis-à-vis total assets and total equity is essential for the better performance of the firms.