(News Bulletin 247) – The diamond group has launched the second edition of its “Renaulution Shareplan”, with more advantageous conditions than for the first since employees will benefit from a maximum of 16 free shares for three purchased, with a discount of 30%. The group wants 10% of its capital to be held by its employees by 2030.

If Renault is accelerating in electrification and improving its financial results, the same is true for its employee shareholding.

The group has major ambitions in this area since it aims in its strategic plan for 10% of its capital to be held by its employees by 2030. This would place it in the leading group of the SBF 120. According to a study carried out by Eres and published last June, the two champions of the expanded Paris Stock Exchange index are Bouygues (21.3% of the capital held by employees) and Eiffage (19.3%). But the third, Vinci, points “only” to 9.9%.

To encourage its employees to invest in its capital, Renault launched a shareholding plan last year called “Renaulution Shareplan”, with advantageous conditions. This had allowed him to increase the share of his employees from 3.6% before this operation to 4.7%.

The diamond group intends to accelerate further since this second edition of the “Renaulution Shareplan” includes even more incentives, with a maximum of 16 free shares allocated, compared to 12 for the first edition.

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30% discount

First, Renault will allocate eight free shares (against six last year) to all its eligible employees, in the form of a unilateral contribution.

In addition, up to eight additional shares will be allocated to employees who will strengthen the group’s capital, at the rate of six for the first two purchased and two for the third. Last year, free share allocations were limited to six for the first two.

Employees will also benefit, as last year, from a discount of 30% compared to the reference price used (37.54 euros). That is to say that they will be able to buy shares at the preferential price of 26.28 euros after application of this discount.

Nearly 100,000 eligible employees

The subscription period will take place from September 18 to October 2 inclusive. Concerning the beneficiaries eligible for the plan, they represent a total of 98,000 employees in 29 countries for the matching contribution of the eight actions. The second part (the 30% discount and the eight shares offered for three purchases of securities) is limited to 23 countries including France (see list at the bottom of this article).

“To subscribe to the offer, the employee must have at least 3 months of seniority, continuous or discontinuous, between January 1, 2022 and October 2, 2023 and an employment contract (with a consolidated company and member of the group savings) in force on October 2, 2023”, explains Renault.

In addition, the employee’s voluntary payment cannot exceed 25% of his gross annual remuneration for the year 2025.

Often a winner for employees

Remember that in the case of a company savings plan, capital gains are exempt from income tax and are only subject to social security contributions on investment income, ie 17.2%. The shares held under this plan must however be kept for a minimum period of five years, except in certain cases of early release (marriage, acquisition of a principal residence, etc.).

Beyond the tax framework, employee share ownership often proves to be advantageous for employees, due to discounts and contributions.

“Employees who subscribed to an employee shareholding operation, carried out by SBF120 companies between 2006 and 2017, were winners in 82% of cases with the dividend and the discount (without taking the matching contribution into account). A shareholder individual would have been winners in only 76% of cases. Taking into account an average contribution rate of 100%, employees would have been winners in 94% of cases after 5 years”, explained Eres in his June study.

From the company’s point of view, in addition to having a more robust shareholder core with an increased presence of its employees in its capital, employee shareholding can also constitute a vector of employee loyalty.

“Companies with a very strong employee ownership culture seem to value their human capital more. Their rate of voluntary departures is nearly twice as low as that of companies with a very weak employee ownership culture: 11.3%,” Eres said in his study.

The countries concerned

For the matching of eight shares

Germany, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Colombia, South Korea, Croatia, Spain, France, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania , United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

For the acquisition of shares at a 30% discount

The same countries except China, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Malta and Sweden.