Exchange rate
exposure
741
Managerial Finance
Vol. 33 No. 9, 2007
pp. 741-765
# Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0307-4358
DOI 10.1108/03074350710776262
Exchange rate exposure: do size
and foreign operations matter?
Ahmed El-Masry
Plymouth Business School, Plymouth UK, and
Omneya Abdel-Salam
Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of firm size and foreign operations on
the exchange rate exposure of UK non-financial companies from January 1981 to December 2001.
Design/methodology/approach – The impact of the unexpected changes in exchange rates on
firms’ stock returns is examined. In addition, the movements in bilateral, equally weighted (EQW)
and trade-weighted and exchange rate indices are considered. The sample is classified according to
firm size and the extent of firms’ foreign operations. In addition, structural changes on the
relationship between exchange rate changes and individual firms’ stock returns are examined over
three sub-periods: before joining the exchange rate mechanism (pre-ERM), during joining the ERM
(in-ERM), and after departure from the ERM (post-ERM).
Findings – The findings indicate that a higher percentage of UK firms are exposed to
contemporaneous exchange rate changes than those reported in previous studies. UK firms’ stock
returns are more affected by changes in the EQW, and US$ European currency unit exchange rate,
and respond less significantly to the basket of 20 countries’ currencies relative to the UK pound
exchange rate. It is found that exchange rate exposure has a more significant impact on stock returns
of the large firms compared with the small and medium-sized companies. The ...