TotalEnergies is “profiting from the war” and doing “everything for the shareholders,” several political leaders, particularly on the left, reacted on Wednesday to the sharp rise in the group’s results, boosted by soaring hydrocarbon prices.
A 5.9% increase in dividend
The quarterly net profit of the French oil and gas giant totaled $5.8 billion (4.96 billion euros), up 51% from a year earlier. The group’s CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, praised the company’s “ability to capture the price increases” in a statement.
“The government tells us it’s not possible (to freeze fuel prices) because the poor oil companies couldn’t survive,” quipped La France Insoumise’s coordinator Manuel Bompard, adding, “When will we stop being taken for fools?” “Total is profiting from the war to explode its profits,” criticized Insoumise member and vice president of the National Assembly, Clémence Guetté.
Building on its first-quarter performance, TotalEnergies has decided to reward its shareholders by increasing the dividend by 5.9%. This is the “strongest dividend growth among the major oil companies,” noted the group.
Debate on the taxation of oil superprofits
Presidential candidate François Ruffin (Debout!), a former Insoumis, lamented that profits are not used more for “investing in the future” or “moving away from fossil fuels.” “Everything for the shareholders,” he criticized.
“These large companies are not in a philanthropic business,” declared National Rally deputy Thomas Ménaé, adding, “Shareholders need to receive dividends, but these dividends should not disproportionately affect the French.” He also mentioned that the National Rally will “go after them with taxation on windfall profits.”
The context of soaring oil prices, caused by the war in the Middle East, has reignited the political debate in Europe on the taxation of oil superprofits, an idea to which French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in early April he had no “principle objection” to.
