“This is a legitimate question. » For TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, the company will remain French, but as for the main listing, that is another matter. Most Of the stock market transactions of the French hydrocarbon giant’s shares are currently carried out on the Paris Stock Exchange, where it represents the second capitalization behind LVMH. But the boss does not hide, in an interview given this Friday, April 26 to the American financial press agency Bloomberg, from having views on New York.
“We are facing a situation where European shareholders are selling or maintaining their stake, and American shareholders are buyinghe explains. What is best for American shareholders? Do they prefer stocks to be primarily listed in New York or Europe? I think when you ask the question, you have the answer. »
47% of institutional shareholders in the United States
Since 2012, the share of North American institutional ownership has increased from 33% to 48% (including 47% for the United States) in 2023, while that of Europe (excluding the United Kingdom) has fallen by 45% to 34% over the same period. Institutional ownership represents 78% of the company’s total ownership. “In Europe, instead of supporting European companies that want to make this transition, even if it is difficult, they look at us and say: look, you continue to produce oil and gas,” underlines Patrick Pouyanné.
TotalEnergies’ strategy “consists of staying the course on carbon-based energies and using the income thus generated to finance the transition”, explains Samuel-Frédéric Servière, responsible for tax and budgetary policy at the very liberal Ifrap Foundation. The Americans benefit from it: “Environmental considerations in the United States are not as acute as in Europe,” specifies Pascal Quiry, professor of finance at HEC.
Across the Atlantic, investments linked to hydrocarbons, particularly in shale gas, continue to increase. Result, “oil companies are significantly more valued in the United States than in Europe”, he notes.
In the first quarter of 2024, the French oil major recorded a net profit of $5.7 billion (5.2 billion euros). A figure up 3% over the same period last year. Building on this good start, the group wants to devote 17 or 18 billion dollars to its investments this year. Of which 5 billion should be used for the production of electricity from gas or renewable sources.
Beware of announcement effects
The fact remains that for Pascal Quiry, we must be wary of an announcement effect: “It’s just a proposal, nothing says he’s going to put it into action. » Especially since the exit of the boss of TotalEnergies comes in a particular context. Last week, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, announced the implementation of a retroactive tax on share buybacks starting this year, a practice of which TotalEnergies has become one of the main followers. Last year, the group bought back 8.2 billion euros of shares, or 27% of all share buybacks carried out by French companies.
Furthermore, the boss of Total must also be heard this Monday, April 29 by the senatorial commission of inquiry led by the environmentalist senator from Paris Yannick Jadot. For months, this commission, which aims to question the integrity of the French multinational’s climate commitments, has been at the heart of the greatest tensions between the former environmentalist presidential candidate and the senatorial majority (right and center), who accuses him of bias on the subject.
In this tense context, it is a safe bet that the Bloomberg interview will be on the discussion menu. But while some will see it as a threat for France to be deprived of one of its flagships on the stock market, others will not fail to see it as a sign that TotalEnergies is much more obsessed with valuing its profits. than by climate change. Faced with Bloomberg, Patrick Pouyanné did not hide it in any case: “It’s not emotional, it’s business…”
