The fiscal year commences on September 1 of each year and ends on August 31 of the following year.
The Company’s shares may be held in either registered or bearer form. They are freely negotiable. Transfer of shares occurs by transfer from one account to another in accordance with the conditions laid down by laws and regulations.
In accordance with article 8 of the Company’s Bylaws, any shareholder whose shareholding in the Company, in any form whatsoever taking into account the forms of ownership provided for in the applicable laws and regulations regarding disclosure obligations, reaches or falls below 1% of the Company’s voting rights or any multiple thereof, including percentages exceeding the disclosure thresholds provided for in the applicable laws and regulations, shall notify the Company within five trading days after the threshold has been exceeded. If a notification threshold is exceeded as a result of the purchase or sale of shares on the open market, the above-mentioned period of five trading days starts on the trading day of the shares and not on the delivery date.
When a disclosure threshold is crossed due to a purchase or sale of shares on the open market, the five trading-day timeframe will begin on the trade of the shares rather than their delivery date.
The above disclosure requirements will also apply to intermediaries that are registered with the Company or its share registrar as acting on behalf of shareholders who are not domiciled in France.
If a shareholder fails to comply with the above disclosure rules, the shares not disclosed may be stripped of voting rights at General Meetings.
The Company may make use of the legal framework available for identifying the holders of shares which have, either immediately or in the future, voting rights at Shareholders Meetings.
Each share entitles its holder to a proportion of the Company’s profits and net assets equal to the proportion of capital represented by the share.
A minimum of 5% of the profit, after deduction of any prior losses, shall first be allocated to the reserve fund prescribed by law. This allocation shall cease when the the reserve fund has reached an amount equal to one-tenth of the share capital. It shall be resumed if, for any reason, the reserve fund has fallen below one-tenth.
The distributable profit shall consist for the fiscal year, reduced by any previous losses and, if necessary, by the amount allocated to the legal reserve, increased by the balance carried forward.
Out of the distributable profit, the following accounts shall be appropriated in the following order (i) any amount that the Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting, upon the proposal of the Board of Directors, decides to carry forward to the next fiscal year or to allocate to the creation of extraordinary or special reserves, contingency funds or other funds with a special purpose or not. (ii) The surplus shall be distributed among all the shareholders, each share being entitled to the same income.
However, shareholders who, at the end of a fiscal year, can prove that they have held registered shares for at least four years and that they continue to hold such shares on the date of payment of the dividend in respect of such fiscal year, shall be entitled to a dividend premium on such registered shares equal to 10% of the dividend paid on the other shares, the resulting dividend premium being rounded down, if necessary, to the nearest cent.
In addition, each shareholder who, at the end of a fiscal year, can prove that he/she has been the owner of registered shares for at least four years and that he/she continues to be the owner of such shares at the time of a capital increase through the capitalization of reserves, net income or additional paid-in capital, through the issuance of bonus shares, shall be entitled to receive an additional number of bonus shares equal to 10%, such number being rounded down to the nearest unit in case of an odd number. The new shares so issued shall have the same rights to the dividend premium and the additional bonus shares as the old shares from which they were issued.
The number of shares eligible for the said dividend premium or additional bonus shares shall not exceed zero point five percent (0.5%) of the share capital for any one shareholder.
The above-mentioned right to a dividend premium has been applicable since the payment of the dividend for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2013.
