Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Equity Growth of listed Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria

Equity is the total of the company’s shareholders’ fund or interest. It is an amalgam of the share capital and the company's retained earnings which sums up their investment decision. Some studies have shown that corporate sustainability reporting which include environmental, social, economic and governance, can improve the equity growth of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. While, studies exist on the corporate sustainability reporting and share value of listed companies, corporate sustainability reporting and share value growth of listed companies in Nigeria remain under-explored. This, study investigated corporate sustainability reporting and its impact on equity growth of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study employed the ex-post facto research design. The population of the study comprised of 33 manufacturing companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) as at 31st December, 2023. The inclusion criterion was employed to select a sample size of 20 listed manufacturing companies. Data were extracted from the sampled companies’ published annual reports and accounts for a period of 20 years (2014–2023). The validity of the data was premised on the certification of the external auditors. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics at the 5% level of significance. The findings revealed that environmental sustainability reporting has a significant effect on equity growth (F (4,195) = 38.39, R2=0.4406, z=3.65, P= 0.000). But social sustainability reporting, governance sustainability reporting and economic sustainability reporting had no significant effect on equity growth (z = 1.2, p = 0.000; z = -0.310, p = 0.756; and z = 0.510, p = 0.61) respectively. The study concluded that, corporate sustainability reporting enhances the share value growth of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study recommended that the listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria should ensure that they pay more attention to their environment, social, economic and governance so as to improve their share value growth.