July 2, 2023

2023-06-26 04:37:08

After analyzing the pay gap between CEOs and average salaries, the NGO Oxfam publishes this Monday the continuation of its study on large companies, devoted this time to “dividend inflation” within the 100 largest listed French companies. in stock exchange.

An increase in dividends equivalent to the entire payroll

In 2022, only 6.7% of French people own shares, according to figures from the Autorité des marchés financiers reported by Oxfam. However, dividend payments amount to billions: according to the report, between 2011 and 2021, the 100 largest French companies listed on the stock market paid an average of 71% of their profits in dividends and share buybacks – it’s 65% for CAC40 companies alone. And between 2020 and 2021, dividends paid to shareholders jumped by 31.4 billion euros, i.e. almost as much as the entire payroll of companies in this top 100.

On the redistribution podium, Total Energies is in the lead, with 61 billion euros in dividends paid in ten years. The company is driven by Sanofiwith 53 billion, and, further, Axa, with 27 billion. In addition, some companies continued to pay high dividends despite poor figures: in first place, Engie, which accumulated 784 million euros in losses over ten years, but still paid 23.6 billion euros. to its shareholders.

Call to regulate the payment of dividends

Ecological concern is at the heart of the first recommendation made by Oxfam, because according to the NGO, in 2019, with only 45% of dividends and share buybacks which were paid to shareholders by the 100 companies in the study, we might cover all their investment needs in the ecological transition. “The first of the recommendations is to regulate the way in which profits are paid to shareholders“, explains Léa Guérin, advocacy officer at Oxfam, calling for “prohibit any payment of dividends and purchase of shares until certain essential criteria are met, in particular a decent salary throughout the company’s value chain, and a plan for the ecological transition, with a financing plan associated“.

The organization also recommendsuse taxation as a tool for redistribution, and to regulate both the share of profits paid to shareholders and the compensation of managers. Another track: that of make public aid conditional on the ceiling on dividends and their investments in the transition. Oxfam is also pushing its arguments with the European authorities in the hope that a directive in this direction, and on the whole of corporate governance, will be discussed in the months to come.

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