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Purpose: This paper aims to explore the effect of interlocking directorates on agency conflicts and corporate performance in the shipping industry. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use social network analysis to discover central nodes in the network of personal and corporate connections in an international sample of 110 listed shipping companies. Findings: Assessing network structure, the authors find that the network of corporate leaders is denser than the network of shipping companies. The network of shipping companies is populated with many isolated nodes; the network of shipping executives and directors is populated with many cohesive groups in which the longest distance between two corporate leaders is two companies. The authors find that interlocking corporate leadership can help resolve agency conflicts in the shipping industry, bearing a negative effect on the magnitude of agency costs. The extent of leadership overlaps is associated with board size, financial leverage and profitability. The relationship between profits and interlocks is bidirectional, implying that interlocking directorates bear a positive effect on asset returns. Originality/value: The authors map the relational structures in the social networks of companies and company leaders in the shipping industry and discover the cross-sectional determinants of interlocks in the shipping industry. The finding about the effect of interlocks on profitability and agency costs bears policy implications for the design of corporate governance in the shipping industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the determinants of Internet financial disclosure in the travel and leisure industry. Studying the case of the firms that are listed in the London Stock Exchange, we employ the generalized method of moments in order to investigate the cross-sectional variation in the quantity of financial information, which is disclosed on corporate websites of travel and leisure firms. We find that disclosure is positively associated with corporate size, financial leverage, concentrated ownership, dual listing and profitability. We also discover that profitability is not only a determinant of financial disclosure in the travel and leisure industry but also its consequence: More profitable firms yield more requests for transparency among their stakeholders, and they also have the necessary resources to respond to these requests. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Debt capital has traditionally been the most important source of external finance in the shipping industry. The access that shipping companies nowadays have to the capital markets provides them with a broader range of financing instruments. As such, this study investigates the determinants of capital structure decisions using a sample of 115 exchange-listed shipping companies. We test whether listed shipping companies follow a target capital structure, and we analyze their adjustment dynamics after deviations from this target leverage ratio. When compared with industrial firms from the G7 countries, shipping companies exhibit higher leverage ratios and higher financial risk. Standard capital structure variables exert a significant impact on the cross-sectional variation of leverage ratios in the shipping industry. Asset tangibility is positively related to corporate leverage, and its economic impact is more pronounced than in other industries. Profitability, asset risk, and operating leverage are all inversely related to leverage. There is only weak evidence for market-timing behavior of shipping companies. Because demand and supply in the maritime industry are closely related to the macroeconomic environment, leverage behaves counter-cyclically. Using different dynamic panel estimators, we further document that the speed of adjustment after deviations from the target leverage ratio is lower during economic recessions. On average, however, the capital structure adjustment speed in the maritime industry is higher compared with the G7 benchmark sample. These findings indicate that there are substantial costs of deviation from the target leverage ratio due to high expected costs of financial distress. Our results have implications for shipping companies’ risk management activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Larger companies exhibit lower levels of related party transactions (RPTs). • Increased profitability and financial leverage leads to increased levels of RPTs. • Larger and more independent boards of directors lead to decreased levels of RPTs. • Above-average operating RPTs are associated with above-average operating expenses. • Above-average financing RPTs are associated with below-average interest rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]