After the record results of TotalEnergies and EDF, respectively profits and losses, here are those of Engie. The third French energy heavyweight posted unprecedented profits in its history, Tuesday, February 21, for the year 2022, in the midst of the gas and electricity price crisis. i.e. 5.2 billion euros of “net recurring income group share” from continuing operations – compared to 2.9 billion in 2021 – i.e. without taking into account exceptional items.
A record since the merger, almost fifteen years ago, of Gaz de France (GDF) and Suez. When it includes impairments, in particular those related to the war in Ukraine, the non-recurring result only shows 0.2 billion euros, despite a turnover of around 94 billion euros (+ 62% from one year to the next).
These profits might in turn fuel the debate, already very much fueled in France, on the redistribution of wealth. As for a decade, the group maintains a distribution rate to shareholders of at least 65% of recurring net income – except in 2020, a year without dividends, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. For 2022, the board of directors chaired by Jean-Pierre Clamadieu has thus planned to pay them nearly 3.4 billion euros in dividends.
Fuel poverty
Misplaced generosity in these times of inflation, according to the group’s CGT union coordinator, Yohan Thiebaux, denouncing “energy speculation”: “If Engie decided to redistribute profits differently, the group would be able to significantly lower the bills of users and companies, and play a real public service role. »
In France, the entourage of the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, stresses that“an important part” dividends from Engie will be “returned to the general budget of the State”. With nearly 24% of the shares, the French State is still the largest shareholder of the former public establishment GDF – some employees held nearly 4% of the shares at the end of 2022, less than the American asset manager BlackRock. Conversely, it is the State that will transfer to Engie the amount advanced by the group within the framework of the tariff shield capping the regulated gas sale tariffs. Either “a cash impact for the group of more than 1 billion euros”specifies the same government source.
The gas supplier took advantage of “unprecedented market conditions”, he agrees. If it does not produce gas, it buys and resells this fossil fuel
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