Shareholder's rights
Being a shareholder confers certain rights.
Monetary right
The shareholder’s remuneration includes:
- - The net dividend or the amount actually paid to the shareholder
- - The tax credit, for personal shareholders, equal to 50% of the net dividend (until 1 January 2005).
These two components together form the gross dividend. The amount of the dividend depends on the company’s results. It is the part of Saint-Gobain’s earnings that the General Meeting decides to allocate to the shareholders on the advice of the Board of Directors. The retained earnings are added to the shareholders’ equity, which is used to finance the company’s growth. To be paid a dividend, you need to be the owner of a share at the time the dividend is paid. Shareholders need take no action to receive their dividend.
Access to information
In addition to the information that all shareholders can get from the Investor Relations Department, shareholders may exercise their right to information by requesting or consulting various documents concerning the running of the company:
- - Either, on a preliminary basis, from the effective date of the call to attend the General Meeting, or within the 15 days preceding it
- - Or, on a permanent basis, by viewing, at the headquarters, the corporate documents covering the last three financial years.
Voting rights
Each share is allocated a voting right. This right is exercised during the General Meetings of Shareholders. For the Saint-Gobain shareholder, a double voting right is allocated to all fully paid-up registered shares held by the same shareholder for at least two years.
Right to participate in capital operations
This right is exercised in two ways:
- A preferential subscription right
A cash capital increase will first be offered to existing shareholders. This right attached to a listed share is negotiable on the market.
However, at an Extraordinary General Meeting, the company may ask its shareholders to renounce their preferential subscription right, or to decide to waive this right to benefit certain shareholders.
- An allocation right
The earnings carried forward, owned by the shareholders, can be incorporated into the equity; in this case, free shares are created for the shareholders. This right is negotiable on the market. It enables shareholders without the exact number of shares needed to benefit from the allocation of free shares to buy or sell rights.
