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What is the difference between the loyalty bonus and free share attribution?

Published on April 14, 2022

3 minutes

As an Air Liquide shareholder, you will doubtless have already have heard about the loyalty bonus and free share attributions. As the two are linked for some of you, the precise perimeter of each of them may be unclear to you. Here is a summary that clarifies these two features that the Group offers its Shareholders.

Loyalty bonus: more dividends and more free shares

The loyalty bonus is a scheme set up by Air Liquide to reward its Shareholders for their loyalty. To benefit from it, you must have owned registered Air Liquide shares, either through a financial establishment (intermediary registered) or directly with Air Liquide (direct registered), for more than two full calendar years. If you meet these criteria, the shares you hold become eligible for the loyalty bonus, which will be administered without the need for you to do anything. You will thus benefit from a 10% bonus on the total dividend received and a 10% bonus on the number of free shares attributed when they are distributed.

If you hold bearer shares and want to benefit from the loyalty bonus as of 2024, we invite you to ask your financial institution to convert your shares to intermediary registered shares before December 31, 2022, as explained in this Factsheet:

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Where shares are inherited by, donated or given as a hand-to-hand gift to a spouse or relative entitled to inherit, the relevant shares will automatically retain the loyalty bonus. 

Let’s look at an example to assess the impact of this loyalty bonus on dividends payouts. The dividend paid in 2021 was €2.75 per share, so all Shareholders benefiting from the 10% bonus received €3.02 per share. And this loyalty bonus is applied each year, provided that the securities remain in your portfolio.

Growing your portfolio through free shares attribution

Air Liquide also regularly issues free shares to all of its shareholders, whether they hold their shares through a financial establishment (intermediary registered) or directly with Air Liquide (direct registered). The Group distributes a portion of its retained earnings (past undistributed net profit) via this method.

Patrick Renard, Head of Shareholder Services, was explaining this to you in video a few months ago:


Unlike the loyalty bonus, for which you must fulfill certain requirements, all Air Liquide Shareholders benefit from this scheme. You simply have to hold Air Liquide shares on the date specified in the offer terms and conditions. The offer was made several times in the past on the basis of one share issued for every 10 shares held. Where the number of securities held is not a multiple of 10, a “fractional rights” payment will be made. This means that if the number of shares you hold is not a multiple of the attribution transaction, you will be receive a payment for the portion of the share that cannot be distributed , which will be paid in cash directly into your bank account.

Shareholders benefiting from the loyalty bonus will also enjoy a 10% bonus on their free share attribution.

The free securities attributed have the same features as those they were issued from in terms of loyalty bonus, seniority, voting rights and dividend rights.

For more details on this type of offer, you can read the dedicated factsheet:

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Key information
The loyalty bonus and free share attribution are two different schemes, even though they can be combined. While all Shareholders benefit from free shares attributions, only those holding their shares in registered form for more than 2 full calendar years benefit from the loyalty bonus.

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