Petrobras was the company that paid the highest dividends among all listed companies in the world in the second quarter of 2022, according to a report released this Wednesday (24) by asset manager Janus Henderson.
Driven by the high profits of the oil companies, the value of global dividends reached a record US$ 544.8 billion in the quarter (R$ 2.8 trillion), an increase of 11.3% in relation to the same period of the previous year. In addition to Petrobras, the Colombian Ecopetrol appears in the list of the ten biggest payers.
According to the survey, called the Janus Henderson Global Dividends Index, the oil sector contributed more than two-fifths of the growth in distributed value. With the rise in prices, Petrobras had a profit of R$ 54.3 billion in the quarter.
It was the third best result in its history — and of a Brazilian public company — crowning a semester of billionaire gains: in the first quarter, the state-owned company had profited 44.5 billion. In 2022 alone, Petrobras has already announced the distribution of R$ 136.3 billion.
Of this total, R$ 48.5 billion were distributed in the second quarter. The remaining R$ 87.8 billion will begin to be paid on August 31.
Petrobras’ dividend distribution policy helps the government, which has even asked for advance funds from state-owned companies to pay for benefits, but is criticized by unions, opposition and experts in the sector, for privileging shareholders over investments.
In a report shortly after the announcement of the value, analyst Daniel Cobucci, from BB Investimentos, warned of the risks that the policy of prioritizing shareholder remuneration generates “implications for growth and strategic action for the long term”.
This move, he says, takes place in the midst of a process of selling assets and reducing indebtedness, “elements that would, in our opinion, allow the company to position itself in investments focused on the diversification of revenues in promising markets and focused on the energy transition. “
Representative of minority shareholders on the company’s board, lawyer Francisco Petros also questioned the strategy. “Considering the strategic variables, the payment of dividends at the current level characterizes the company ‘without project'”, he told Sheet In this ocasion.
In addition to oil companies, companies in the financial and consumer sectors, mainly car manufacturers, also stood out in the payment of dividends in the second quarter of 2022, says the Janus Henderson report.
Like the oil sector, banks contributed two-fifths of the distributed value growth in the quarter.
“The second quarter was a little above our expectations, but the strong growth should not be repeated for the rest of the year”, says, in the report, Ben Lofthouse, head of the Global Equity Income division of the asset manager.
In his assessment, the post-pandemic recovery is almost complete, which will limit gains in the coming quarters, and the world faces the risk of a slowdown in the global economy.
Janus Henderson expects dividends paid for the full year to total $1.56 trillion, up 5.8% from 2021.
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