Shares in UK's biggest house builder are tumbling after it passed a major day in its financial calendar

Shares in Barratt Developments, the UK's biggest listed house builder, are falling sharply on Thursday, shedding more than 7% of their value in afternoon trade as the firm passes its ex-dividend date for 2016.

This means that anyone buying Barratt shares between now and the end of the financial year will not receive a dividend, and instead that dividend will be paid out to the person selling the shares.

Shares in major firms tend to slide when passing the ex-dividend date as without a dividend the total return on any stock will generally be lower, making it a less attractive investment.

Here's how Barratt looks at 1.45 p.m. BST (8.45 a.m. ET):

barratt lunch oct 27

Investing.comLast week, the firm was embroiled in a major corruption probe after its Regional Managing Director for London, Alastair Baird was suspended and arrested by London's Metropolitan Police. Another, unnamed former Barratt employee was also arrested as part of an investigation into alleged bribery.

The Met said in a statement it launched an investigation "regarding a number of allegations of corruption concerning a public limited company" in April this year, adding: "The allegations related to irregularities in the tendering process."

Both have been bailed while police continue their investigation and told to return to a police station at an undisclosed date in early 2017, a spokesperson for the Met confirmed on the day news emerged of the arrests.

Barratt said at the time of the arrests that it has adopted "additional controls" to guard against any future problems. Barratt CEO David Thomas said in a statement:

"We are committed to meeting the highest ethical standards in all aspects of our business. We have acted decisively, launching our own thorough and comprehensive investigation and referring the matter to the Metropolitan Police."

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SEE ALSO: The London boss of the UK's biggest house builder arrested in a corruption probe