According to a new report on CAC 40 companies, dividends in 2021 reached a record €57 billion, bringing in over €2.4 billion to France's Arnault family and €2 billion to the American investment fund Blackrock.
The French Observatory of Multinationals NGO has reported that stock market profits exploded in 2021 compared to the previous year that was effectively sunk by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the group's annual report published this Monday, the main players in France's stock market index have "once again prioritised [their] shareholders," with dividends up 32 percent compared to 2020.
After the Arnault family and Blackrock, the French state is – with €1.32 billion – the third largest beneficiary of dividend payments for 2021 profits.
🚨 PARUTION #VraiBilanDuCAC40 édition 2022#Dividendes et rachats d'actions, #climat, rémunérations patronales et #salaires, emploi, #lobbying, place des femmes, fiscalité, déchets...
— Obs. Multinationales (@obs_multinat) November 14, 2022
Tout ce que vous devez savoir sur le #CAC40
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Following the money
The NGO says that "about one tenth of all dividends" from the CAC 40 goes to 16 families – historically linked to some of France's biggest groups such as LVMH, Hermès, L'Oréal or Kering.
Moreover, the Observatory has remarked "the tax contribution of CAC 40 groups seems to be growing much less rapidly than their profits and dividends."
Some 14 percent "of all CAC 40 subsidiaries are located in tax havens," the report notes, recognising however that "the degree of presence of major French groups in these jurisdictions ... is not enough to prove that there is illicit tax evasion."
Mega wages for CEOs
Meanwhile, the average remuneration of a CAC 40 boss rose by 52 percent in 2021 to reach €6.6 million again, a year after the peak of the Covid crisis.
The NGO has also noted that between 2019 and 2021, salaries for CEOs rose by over 26 percent, adding that "the directors of companies in which the State is a shareholder are at the bottom of the ranking".
The Dassault group is at the top of the pile, with its CEO receiving €44 million in remuneration.
In 2021, a CAC 40 company spent approximately €65,300 per employee, which means "an average CAC 40 employee has to work 139 days to earn what his boss earns in a single day," according to the Observatory.
