Americanas paid BRL 2 billion in dividends to shareholders – 01/20/2023 – Market

At the center of an accounting scandal that led it to file for bankruptcy, Americanas distributed more than R$ 2 billion in dividends to shareholders in the last decade. The value is much higher than that paid by some of the largest retailers in the country.

For specialists, the difference reflects a more aggressive dividend policy than that of its competitors, who have spent the last few years more focused on growth than on remunerating shareholders.

A survey carried out by Einar Rivero, from the TradeMap consultancy, shows that, between 2013 and the third quarter of 2022, Americanas distributed BRL 2.1 billion to its shareholders, in amounts adjusted for inflation in the period.

It is practically double the R$ 1.1 billion distributed in the same period by Magalu and the R$ 1 billion distributed by Via Varejo, in amounts also adjusted for inflation. Americanas has yet to comment on the matter.

This Thursday (19), in the midst of a legal battle with its biggest creditors after the announcement of an accounting scandal, the company filed for judicial recovery to settle a debt of R$ 43 billion.

The company had not been duly accounting for credit operations as debt to finance the purchase of goods from suppliers over the last few years, a strategy that became public last week.

Variable income specialist at Nexgen Capital, Heitor Martins says that the company has always had a more aggressive strategy in relation to the payment of dividends than its competitors, but that it is still not possible to relate the accounting strategy to the greater offer of resources for shareholders.

“When a company does not put the debt on the balance sheet, which is what is happening with Americanas, it has greater cash flow, which enables greater distribution of dividends, both for majority and minority shareholders”, he says.

“But you can’t nail it [no caso da Americanas]because it still needs an official audit to see what the real size of the problem was”, he ponders.

In 2022, Americanas shareholders approved the distribution of BRL 516 million, equivalent to 95% of the profit recorded in the previous year — the rest would be allocated to the legal reserve. Until September, according to the survey carried out by Rivero, R$ 338.6 million had been paid, in corrected amounts.

Considering inflation, it is the second highest dividend ever distributed by the company in the same year, behind only the BRL 344.6 million in 2020.

Among the biggest beneficiaries of the company’s dividend policy are the so-called reference shareholders group, formed by billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Beto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, who own 31% of the company.

Other major shareholders are investment fund managers Capital Group (9.91%), Blackrock (5.05%) and TIAA Cref, which manages US teachers’ pensions (6.05%).

Almost half of the value distributed by Americanas to its shareholders in the last decade was concentrated between 2020 and 2022. In the same period, the company also significantly increased the remuneration of its executives.

Between 2020 and 2021, the average amount paid to directors practically doubled, from BRL 4.3 million, in an amount adjusted by the IPCA, to BRL 8.5 million. The proposal for 2022 provided for an average of BRL 11.8 million in salaries, bonuses and shares.

The high earnings of the board of Americanas are mentioned by the Antonelli Advogados office in a proposal to investors to file a collective action against the company in the United States, in an attempt to recover the loss with the meltdown of the shares after the announcement of the accounting scandal.