Note(s): MV is market value per share, six months after reporting date, calculated using a firm-specific total return index; BV is book value per share, excluding all gains on bargain purchase variables; NI is earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders per share, excluding GBP_Disc and GBP_NoDisc; Impair is an indicator variable set to one if a firm has reported impairment of goodwill during the current or two preceding years and zero otherwise; GBP_Disc (GBP_NoDisc) is the gain on bargain purchase per share recognised during the current period where the firm discloses (does not disclose) a supporting reason for its recognition; GBPold_Disc (GBPold_NoDisc) is the total gains on bargain purchase per share recognised in earnings over the preceding two periods where the firm disclosed (did not disclose) supporting reasons in the period of their first recognition; Neg is an indicator variable set to one if NI is negative and zero otherwise; Size is the natural log of total assets. In Panel B, firm-years are stratified into subsamples based on the presence (or absence) of a value for either GBP_Disc or GBPold_Disc. In this panel, ROA is return on assets; LEV is gearing, calculated as unadjusted book value over total assets; GBPmat is materiality of gains on bargain purchase, calculated as the sum of all gains on bargain purchase reported in the current and preceding two periods over unadjusted net income. p-values are indicated in brackets. * and ** denote significance at the 10 and 5% levels respectively

Source(s): Author's own work