Offers at the pump, transfer of shares to employees... Patrick Pouyanné's gifts for the 100th anniversary of TotalEnergies

It’s a special birthday, where the one who blows out the candles gives the gifts. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the TotalEnergie group, its former name the French Petroleum Company, its CEO Patrick Pouyanné pulled out all the stops. The company manager announced this Friday, March 29, a transfer of shares to the group's 100,000 employees around the world. “Each employee will receive 100 shares, provided that he or she remains in the company for five years,” he detailed on France 2. Cost of the operation: from 620 to 630 million euros, if the We refer to the TotalEnergies share price which is currently trading in the region of 63 euros. “In my opinion, this is the best way to involve employees in the running of the company,” added Patrick Pouyanné.

But this Christmas in February doesn’t stop there. The CEO also promised a check for 100 euros to the first 100,000 new customers of the group's electrical branch. One condition: “that they remain customers for the next six months,” he explained. And for drivers? More packages! The CEO of the group announced an offer at the pump for holders of the “Total Club” card. “The first 100,000 to spend 1000 euros will also receive a check for 100 euros,” he revealed, recalling that such an expenditure corresponded more or less to three months of consumption. Today, a million French people pass through a TotalEnergies station every day, according to figures communicated by the manager.

The total cost of these promotions for customers is expected to be around 20 million euros. Including the sale of shares, the amount of the operation should reach nearly 3% of the group's 19.9 billion euros in profits in 2023. After the announcement of his figures in February 2024, Patrick Pouyanné had already played Santa Claus (late) by proposing a dividend of 3.01 euros per share for 2023. An increase of 7.1% compared to the previous year. And the year 2024 should also hold its share of good news for the shareholders of the energy company, which has confirmed its intention to allocate more than 40% of its cash flow to its shareholders in 2024.

Unless a tax on superprofits comes to spoil the party. After the announcement of a spiraling deficit (5.5% of GDP), the pressure from the government to get its share of the pie is becoming more and more insistent. During his appearance on TF1's 8 p.m. show, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal declared that he "had no dogma or taboo" regarding an increase in taxes on exceptional corporate profits. Questioned on Sud Radio this Friday, Thomas Cazenave insisted on the need to “recover these excess profits” to fill the holes in the state coffers. The minister responsible for the budget hopes to be able to raise an additional billion euros in 2024. In December 2022, the government had already targeted energy companies and their record results. But this tax only brought in 600 million euros. The executive, however, was counting on a return of 3 billion.