This paper analyses the influence of financial leverage decisions, dividend payout policies and the ownership structure on the firm market value when companies either face, or do not face, profitable growth opportunities. A sample of 101 large non-financial publicly-traded Spanish companies is used. The results confirm the relevance of debt and dividends in terms of firm value creation by showing a negative relationship between firm value and both leverage and dividend payments in the presence

more »

... f growth opportunities. On the contrary, this relationship turns out to be positive when firms have no profitable investment projects. The results also demonstrate the relevance of ownership structure in the allocation of firm resources.