DEBT FINANCING AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF LISTED CONSUMER GOODS FIRMS IN NIGERIA

This paper examined the relationship between debt financing and financial performance of listed consumer goods firms in Nigeria for the period 2013 to 2024. Secondary data was obtained from a population of ten firms through their annual reports and accounts. Debt financing as an independent variable of the study was proxied by long term debt and short term debt, while return on assets was used to represent financial performance as the dependent variable of the study. The study adopted robust ordinary least square multiple regression technique in analyzing the data. The findings revealed that long term and short term debt have negative significant impact on financial performance of the firms. It is recommended that the firms should reduce the percentage of debt components in their capital structure and focused more attention on equity financing or debt with a cheaper cost attached to it, since the result provides evidence that long term debt and short term debt have negative significant effect on financial performance.