Large French companies have favored their shareholders more than their employees in the redistribution of added value since 2018, according to the NGO Oxfam, which denounces a “disconnection”, in a report published this Monday.
Between 2011 and 2017, “shareholder payments and spending per employee evolve together” before a “clear break” in 2018, Oxfam stresses in this study on “dividend inflation” of the 100 largest French companies listed on bag.
Lack of investment in ecological transition
In addition to the imbalance in the distribution of value, the NGO Oxfam laments the lack of investment by these companies, particularly in the energy transition.
“In 2019, 45% of the dividends and share buybacks paid to shareholders would have been enough to cover their investment needs in the ecological transition,” estimates Oxfam, which points out that “on average, 71% of the benefits” of these companies were redistributed to their shareholders, from 2011 to 2021, via dividends or share repurchase. The policies of the energy company Engie, the manufacturer of seamless tubes Vallourec and the mining company Eramet are especially targeted.
Oxfam calls for the payment of dividends to be conditional by law on the implementation of “a living wage throughout the value chain”, as well as “an ambitious climate strategy” and an investment plan established with the company’s economic and social partners . committee (CSE).
The NGO also wants the abolition of the single fixed tax on dividends (“flat rate”) and the conditioning of public aid to the dividend ceiling.
Source: BFM TV
