Abstract

In the decade between years 2001 – 2011 Kenya experienced change of CEOs of listed firms through dismissal, resignation and retirement which created a need to establish whether CEO departure events had a significant influence on stock returns and profitability of the affected firms. In this research 9 CEO departure events 3 dismissal, 3 retirement and 3 resignation events were analyzed. Abnormal stock returns were computed by employing the market model and profitability of the affected listed firms was measured by employing return on assets (ROA). Paired samples t-test was employed to examine whether there was a significant difference in the abnormal returns and profitability (ROA) during pre and post CEO departure period. The findings indicated that there was no significant difference in abnormal stock returns and profitability in the pre and post CEO departure events. The findings implied that NSE investors were not excited by change of CEOs and that the NSE is semi strong form efficient.

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