Paris (AFP)

The French government was to unveil a bill Friday to frame the payment of dividends by companies it helps to overcome the coronavirus crisis, after announcements of reduction or cancellation by a series of companies but also union calls in this sense.

The Minister of Economy "Bruno Le Maire announced to the social partners that he would submit a proposal to the Prime Minister this afternoon on the impossibility of combining requests for postponements of tax and social deadlines and payment of dividends", a indicated the Élysée on Friday.

This initiative had been revealed a few minutes earlier by Philippe Martinez, the general secretary of the CGT, who had told AFP that "normally there should be an incentive bill for companies that have received help and that will not be able to pay dividends. "

"In companies where the State is a shareholder, we will ask not to pay dividends (...), it is solidarity", had previously indicated the Minister of Labor Muriel Pénicaud. She added during an interview with CNEWS "to understand the approach of the CFDT" which on Wednesday called on the major French groups not to pay dividends this year.

Several large French companies have already given up paying a dividend or, at least, reduced the amount initially planned.

On Wednesday, the specialist in advertising displays JCDecaux announced that it would give up its dividend and the media giant Lagardère reduce its own.

Previously, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Tarkett, a specialist in floor coverings, had already given up paying theirs. The motorway restoration company Autogrill and Auchan Holdings in large retailers did the same.

The aeronautical engine manufacturer and equipment supplier Safran on Friday canceled the payment of its 2019 dividend which was to reach a total of one billion euros.

Conversely, the transport operator Transdev, publicly controlled via the Caisse des Dépôts, said on Tuesday that it would pay a dividend of 23 million euros, half of its 2019 profit, but said it would not would do only after the coronavirus crisis ended.

The manufacturer of pens, razors and lighters Bic has decided to only reduce its dividend, but by more than a third, however. "The level of uncertainty about the scale and duration of the crisis requires a reallocation of the + cash flow + of the company in order to protect its operations and strengthen its competitive positions," said Bic Friday.

- Union pressure -

A framework for the payment of dividends has been widely demanded by union organizations.

In a column published on Thursday, 18 officials from trade union, association and environmental organizations, including Philippe Martinez, Aurélie Found (Attac), Jean-François Julliard (Greenpeace) and Cécile Duflot (Oxfam) had demanded, "to avoid employees being the adjustment variable "that" the payment of dividends and the repurchase of shares in companies, which reached record levels recently, [are] immediately suspended and supervised in the medium term ".

Earlier this week, the five unions of the energy giant Engie, of which the State is a shareholder, had asked in a letter to Mr. Le Maire that the dividend for the year 2019 be entirely allocated to investment, "in order to face the health crisis".

The employers welcomed the prospect of a dividend freeze: "our position is that a company that requests a deferral (of charges) is that it has a serious immediate cash flow problem, so it makes sense not to pay dividends. So we understand this proposal, "Medef president Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux told AFP.

The European Banking Federation, for its part, recommended to its members to suspend dividends and share buybacks for the 2020 financial year, in order to allow banks to have the maximum capital to support the European economy in the face of fallout. coronavirus.

It stresses, however, that it is "firmly convinced that any decision by a listed bank to suspend its 2019 dividend at this stage must take into account the perception of investors as to the solvency of the European banking sector and the expectations of shareholders".

© 2020 AFP