This study investigated the effect of Nigerian banks’ capital structure on the performance of conglomerates quoted on the floor of the Nigerian stock exchange from 2011 to 2015. The paper identified four levels of dependent variables such as return on assets, ratio (ROA), return on equity ratio (ROE), assets turnover ratio (AT) and earnings per share whereas the independent variable is financial leverage. Essentially the paper sets out to determine the effect of capital structure on the above dependable variables hence return on assets of quoted conglomerates, return on equity of quoted conglomerates, asset turnover of the quoted conglomerates and on the earnings per share of quoted conglomerates. Descriptive statistics and the pooled ordinary least square (POLS) regression analytical method were used for data analysis. The study finds that capital structure has effect on both return on assets and asset turnover of the conglomerates but no effect on return on equity and earnings per share of the conglomerate. It is then concluded that an in-depth analysis of business factors which affect a particular industry should be considered so as to obtain the benefits of the debt-equity mix. The result of the study is in agreement with most previous studies on other sectors that discovered mixed results on the effect of capital structure on financial performance. It is therefore necessary to employ a critical analysis of the appropriate debt-equity mix suitable for the company.
Keywords: Capital Structure, Financial Leverage, POLS, ROA, ROE, conglomerates
