More broadly, in the SBF 120, the rate increased by 0.1 points to reach 1.8%. “A groundswell is undoubtedly emerging in employee shareholding. It is also a key element of extra-financial communication on the social and governance aspects,” comments Olivier Paon, the general delegate of the FAS, to L’Usine Nouvelle. Even if the objective of 10% of the capital of companies held by employees, hoped for by 2030 by the FAS, still seems out of reach. “All companies are far from making employee shareholding a strategic axis of their development”, recognizes Olivier Paon.
Record number of employee shareholding operations
Several indicators show a rather exceptional period for employee shareholding. According to the 2024 panorama of the specialist employee savings group Eres, published at the end of June, 42 collective employee shareholding plans were carried out by 38 SBF 120 companies in 2023, a high since at least 2005. These operations represent a record amount of around 4.4 billion euros.
Based on a panel of several dozen companies, the FAS also calculated an increase of 600 euros in the personal contribution of employees compared to its previous annual study. This contribution reached an average of 3,100 euros on the sample. Despite a sharp decline during the year, inflation was nevertheless at high levels in 2023. “This shows that employees consider this system as a good investment for their retirement or their future purchasing power,” estimates Olivier Paon. In approximately 27% of SBF 120 companies, employees held at least 3% of the capital in 2023. However, “employee shareholders must be appointed to the board of directors of companies if they exceed this threshold”, recalls Marie-Noëlle Auclair, director of expertise and solutions at Eres.
Bouygues, champion of the system
According to Eres, more than 2.4 million employees were shareholders in their SBF 120 company last year, an increase of around 8% compared to 2022. But the rate of democratization of employee shareholding, i.e. the share of employee shareholders out of the total number of employees, remains a negative point for its promoters. It rose to 36% in 2023, compared to more than 40% in 2014.
Which partly explains why certain large companies are conducting international employee shareholding operations. “We have been feeling for several years that after having focused their efforts on France, groups want to strengthen equity with employees abroad. This is also a reflection of the internationalization of French companies,” notes Olivier Paon. The fact remains that, according to the FAS panel, more than half of the companies questioned have retained less than ten countries in their last employee shareholding operation. Abroad, certain regulatory and tax contexts complicate the deployment of the system.
With nearly 22% of its capital held by its employees at the end of 2023, Bouygues wins the gold medal for employee shareholding in the CAC 40. The group is followed by Société Générale (11.2%), Vinci (10.20%), Capgemini (8.9%) and finally Saint-Gobain (8.7%) for the top 5.
More fear than harm regarding employee shareholding accounting
In September 2022, the Accounting Standards Authority decided to change the accounting for employee shareholding, thus putting an end to the possibility for large listed companies to understate the cost of this system in their accounts. The latter then cried wolf… But almost two years later, the new accounting rules “have not massively slowed down the development of employee shareholding”, indicates the French Federation of Employee Shareholder Associations (FAS) in its annual study.
Less than 20% of the companies surveyed by the FAS believe that the decision has been a brake on their employee shareholding schemes. The companies affected say above all that they have reduced the amount of the discount offered on the value of their shares. “It’s not a tidal wave, but it’s not neutral. For the moment, we remain vigilant about the repercussions of this change in accounting practice,” says Olivier Paon, the general delegate of the FAS.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
