April 6th, 2020
PRESS RELEASE
PHITRUST PROPOSES TO LISTED COMPANIES WHICH INTEND TO PAY DIVIDENDS FOR 2019 ACTIVITY TO AMEND THE DIVIDEND RESOLUTION
THE SICAV PHITRUST ACTIVE INVESTORS FRANCE SUGGESTS TO LISTED COMPANIES WHICH INTEND TO PAY DIVIDENDS FOR 2019 ACTIVITY TO AMEND THE RESOLUTION BY DIRECTING PART OF THESE DIVIDENDS TO THE CREATION OF A FUND WHICH GOAL WOULD BE TO SUPPORT THEIR ECOSYSTEM STAKEHOLDERS (INCLUDING THEIR SUBCONTRACTORS).
On 18th March, Phitrust took a strong position in asking to postpone General Meetings of a few months, and consequently to delay dividend payments. The goal was to take time to redefine the operational and financial priorities of companies, and thus to adjust their objectives in light of the current crisis. This initiative would result in a delay, or even a decrease, in payable dividends from 2019.
This initiative has been largely shared and commented by many actors including companies, finance institutions and marketplaces, unions, …
As an extension of this initiative, and in order to feed the debates of the Boards during this additional time given to them to hold their AGMs, Phitrust sent a letter on April 1st to 28(1) CAC40 CEOs to give them the opportunity to amend the resolution of dividend payment by considering devoting part of this payment to a fund which would support their ecosystem stakeholders (including their subcontractors).
Such a mechanism was set up by Danone and voted at its General Meeting in 2009: the Danone Ecosystem fund.
This fund, which creation would be voted during 2020 General Meetings, would allow companies and their shareholders to participate actively in supporting the economy, which is essential to mitigate the effect of the current crisis and encourage the recovery of the group’s activity.
We will publish in a subsequent press release the responses given to us by the CAC40 Boards of Directors to this proposal.
(1) Air Liquide, Atos, Axa, Bouygues, Capgemini, Carrefour, Dassault Systèmes, Engie, EssilorLuxottica, Hermès International, Kering, Legrand, L’Oréal, Lvmh, Michelin, Orange, Pernod Ricard, Publicis, Safran, Saint-Gobain, Sanofi, Schneider Electric, Thales, Total, Veolia, Vinci, Vivendi, Worldline.
About the Sicav Phitrust Active Investors France The Sicav Phitrust Active Investors has been working since 2003 with large listed companies so that they can change their environmental, social and governance practices.
www.phitrust.com
PHITRUST - Denis Branche / Olivier de Guerre- Tel. : +33 (0)1 55 35 07 54 / 58 [email protected]/[email protected]