Stock Exchange Market Capitalization and Financial Performance of Firms in Rwanda Stock Exchange: A Survey of Listed Firms in Rwanda

Capital markets contribute enormously to economic development as they give room to amassing capital for investment and growth. Financial markets are considered to be the long-term sources of funds for most firms and thus the backbone of the economy of most developing countries. Hence, the study assessed the effect of stock exchange capitalization on the financial performance of the public companies listed in Rwanda Stock Exchange Market. The study was focused on the effect of share price, share value and financial literacy on the financial growth of listed firms in Rwanda Stock Exchange. This research used descriptive research design. The companies under consideration were the primary stakeholder of the RSE totaling to 14 firms, which included Capital Market Authority, Rwanda Stock Exchange, the 9-brokerage firms and the 3 cross listed firms in the RSE employing 97 workers. A sample size of 67 participants were selected from the 97 workers, 100 other informants identified purposively. The study used both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected using structured questionnaires both open and closed. The data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative method. SPSS was used to analyze data. Research findings showed that share value had a moderate negative correlation (-0.572 and P value =0.00) with financial performance. Financial literacy has moderate positive correlation (0.568 and P value =0.00) with financial performance. It was indicated that share value, share price and financial literacy contributes to 67.2% of the variations in the financial performance of firms in Rwanda stock exchange Kigali. The market capitalization of the domestic companies was larger than that of cross-listed, and return on equity of the domestic firms was better than for the cross-listed companies. Generally, the Rwanda stock exchange did not perform any better than the domestic firms though overall the public awareness, technology and regulation framework positively correlated with financial performance of the Rwanda stock exchange. The recommendation is that more awareness strategy needed to be devised to increase public awareness of investors and Rwanda stock exchange need to be motivated by other factors. Keywords: Stock exchange market, financial performance, Rwanda stock exchange, listed firms, Rwanda