STOCK MARKET AND SHAREHOLDER BASE
“The VINCI share and the dividend both showed a significant increase..”
THREE QUESTIONS FOR CHRISTIAN LABEYRIE
Overall, how did the VINCI share perform in 2023?
It performed very well. The VINCI share price gained 22% in 2023, closing the year at €113.70. It fluctuated between a low of €94.80 in early January and a high of €116.10 setting an all time record on 11 December 2023.
Despite several setbacks and trend reversals during the year, the financial markets showed healthy growth in 2023. They recovered their losses from 2022, which had been impacted by the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, high inflation and an unprecedented tightening of monetary policy. At the end of 2023, despite geopolitical risks, investors were jubilant, buoyed by easing inflation and the prospect of lower interest rates in 2024. In this context, the VINCI share delivered the 16th best performance in the CAC 40, which also hit new highs for the period, ending the year up 17%. At 31 December 2023, with a market capitalisation of €67 billion, our Group ranked 12th in the CAC 40.
What can you tell us about the dividend ?
In light of our Group’s excellent performance and as a sign of confidence in our continued long-term growth, the Board of Directors decided on 7 February 2024 to propose, at the Shareholders’ General Meeting of 9 April 2024, a total dividend of €4.50 per share in respect of 2023. The dividend represents an increase of 12.5% on the previous year and a yield of 4.0% based on the share price at 31 December 2023. Since an interim dividend of €1.05 was paid in November 2023, the final dividend payment on 25 April 2024 will be €3.45 per share if approved at the Shareholders’ General Meeting. The VINCI share price has shown remarkably strong long-term performance: in the past 10 years, it has increased 138%, compared to 76% growth over the same period for the CAC 40. A VINCI shareholder who invested €1,000 on 31 December 2013 and reinvested all dividends received would have multiplied their investment 3.2 times as of 31 December 2023, which represents an average annual return of 12.5% (versus a 9.0% return for the CAC 40).
The Shareholders’ General Meeting is an opportune time to present VINCI’s strategy and the progress we have made towards its environmental ambition.
Who are your shareholders?
According to a shareholder survey conducted at the end of the year, 76% of VINCI’s share capital is held by some 1,000 investment funds, located mainly in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. Non French investment funds own close to 62% of VINCI’s capital, so we have a more international shareholder base than the CAC 40 (whose corresponding average is about 40%).
Employee savings funds combine the investments of nearly 166,000 former and current employees, of which around 128,000 are based in France and 38,000 outside of France. At 31 December 2023, these funds owned 10.2% of VINCI’s share capital, making employees our biggest shareholder. This is thanks to the policy that the Group has promoted for almost 30 years now, encouraging employees to become shareholders and partake in our success.
Individual shareholders, excluding employee savings funds, hold 10.7% of our share capital.
Treasury shares represent 3.1% of our share capital. We hold treasury shares to cover long term incentive plans and employee share ownership plans outside France, to be used as payment in external growth transactions, or to be sold or cancelled.