Treasury shares held at the end of the year, including those owned under the liquidity contract, are deducted from the share capital.
The portfolio of treasury shares showed the following movements in 2020 and 2021:
| Number of shares | |
|---|---|
| Treasury shares held on January 1, 2020 (1) | Treasury shares held on January 1, 2020 (1)Number of shares3,480,234 |
| Disposals (exercise of stock options) and deliveries of free shares | Disposals (exercise of stock options) and deliveries of free shares Number of shares(1,074,183) |
| Movements as part of the liquidity contract | Movements as part of the liquidity contract Number of shares(214,792) |
| Treasury shares held on December 31, 2020 (1) | Treasury shares held on December 31, 2020 (1)Number of shares2,191,259 |
| Disposals (exercise of stock options) and deliveries of free shares | Disposals (exercise of stock options) and deliveries of free shares Number of shares(814 401) |
| Buybacks of treasury shares | Buybacks of treasury shares Number of shares2,500,000 |
| Movements as part of the liquidity contract | Movements as part of the liquidity contract Number of shares(14,958) |
| Treasury shares held on December 31, 2021(1) | Treasury shares held on December 31, 2021 (1)Number of shares3,861,900 |
(1) Including 53,500 shares held as part of the liquidity contract on December 31, 2021, and 68,458 on December 31, 2020.
| Per share
(en euros) |
Total
(in millions of euros) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Dividends paid in 2021 (for the 2020 financial year) | Dividends paid in 2021 (for the 2020 financial year) Per share(en euros) 2.00 |
Dividends paid in 2021 (for the 2020 financial year) Total (in millions of euros) 493(1) |
| Dividends proposed to the General Shareholders’ Meeting (for the 2021 financial year | Dividends proposed to the General Shareholders’ Meeting (for the 2021 financial year Per share(en euros) 2.40 |
Dividends proposed to the General Shareholders’ Meeting (for the 2021 financial year Total (in millions of euros) 608(2) |
(1) Amount paid, depending on shareholder option, in cash or shares. Dividends paid in shares amounted to euro 266 million, resulting in the creation of 5,018,232 shares.
(2) Amount for all shares outstanding on December 31, 2021, including treasury shares.
Pursuant to the 20th resolution of the General Shareholders’ Meeting of May 26, 2021, the Groupe implemented a program to buy 2.5 million treasury shares during the financial year. This program is designed to fulfill the commitments in connection with the current free share plans awarded to employees, the shares of which will be delivered in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. This program represented around 1% of the share capital as of August 31, 2021, prior to its implementation in September which continued until December 2021, when it was completed. Hence, for 2021 period, buyback of treasury shares amount to 144 euro million.
The Groupe’s policy is to maintain a solid capital base in order to maintain the confidence of investors, creditors and the market and to support future activity development. The Groupe’s management pays particular attention to the debt-to-equity ratio, which is defined as net debt (financial debt less cash and cash equivalents) divided by equity (including non-controlling interests) and has calculated that the ideal debt-to-equity ratio is less than 0.8. As at December 31, 2021 the debt-to-equity ratio, taking lease liabilities into account, was 0.25. At December 31, 2020, it was 0.41.
Management also monitors the dividend payout rate, which is defined as the ratio between the dividend per share and diluted headline earnings per share. Given the amount of the dividend (euro 2.40 per share) to be proposed to the next General Shareholders’ Meeting, the rate will be 47.8% for financial year 2021 compared to a rate of 46.8% for financial year 2020.
