RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – More than 75% of the total amount of dividends and JCP (interest on equity) distributed by listed companies in 2020 was paid by only 24 companies.
The proceeds of these companies amount to about R$100.7 (US$19.6) billion, according to Economática data analyzed by FGV. “This shows how concentrated our market is. This group represents only 10% of the companies on the stock market that have made these payments,” said Henrique Castro, professor at FGV-SP.
The remuneration of shareholders through the distribution of dividends came into discussion with the changes in proposed in the government’s proposed tax reform. After a wave of complaints from business people, rapporteur Celso Sabino agreed to waive changes in tax exemptions and taxation of dividends between companies in the same group.
“Businesses are complaining, but there is nothing crazy about the proposal to tax dividends. Countries generally start from the idea that you should tax this income, which is income,” Castro says.
The 24 largest payers topping the survey distributed at least R$1 billion to shareholders, legal entities, or individuals last year. The largest distributions were made by Vale, Itaú, Santander, and Ambev, according to Economática.
The data show that 239 of the 395 companies with published balance sheets distributed dividends and JCP in 2020.
According to the professor, 35 companies that had losses last year still paid dividends, using profits from prior years. “They maintained some level of payout because shareholders are probably used to a stream of income. Not paying could hurt the appeal and affect the stock price,” he says.
Source: Folha