The Jim Ratcliffe's chemical company, INEOS, canceled its annual dividend following an increasing and expensive debt battery.
Although Ineos is a private company and, therefore, it has no barriers to cancel or alter its dividend policy, it is still representative of a notable change in last year's profits before taxes of more than 407 million euros (£ 340 million) to a loss of € 71 million (£ 59 million) this year.
Ineos had paid annual dividends for more than ten years, with the exception of 2020, reaching more than € 2 billion in payments in 2019.
However, with the business under increasing cost pressures, the debt battery had increased to more than € 10 billion (£ 8.4 billion) at the end of 2024, which led to Ratcliffe and its companions shareholders to choose to effectively reinvest the dividend in the company to facilitate the payment of the debt.
He Times Reports that net financial costs had increased at the end of last year to € 1.11bn (£ 920m), leaving the total debt of € 10.6 billion (£ 8.9 billion).
Ratcliffe recently wrote an open letter to EU politicians citing the “idiots” plans to deductarialize the continent, pointing out that high -energy and other factors will cost jobs and regional security.
“Decarbonizing Europe for deindustrialization is idiot. We lose jobs and security and CO₂ simply floats in Europe anyway,” Ratcliffe wrote in his open letter to political leaders recently.
“Government policies have resulted in highly high energy prices and paralyzing carbon taxes. The industry is in crisis with such large disadvantages. Instead of investing in growth for the future, it is fighting for survival.
“The consequence of this policy is that Europe will import all its raw materials in the United States and China, who will benefit greatly.”
Not paying the dividend this year, an INEOS spokesman said: “As a private company, our shareholders make strategic decisions, including the payment of dividends, whose size can change from time to time, depending on the performance of the business.
“One of the Strengths of Ineos is that we are not obliged to pay dividends when the cash is better invested in the business. This is an example of our prudent discipline and financial management. In 2024, our three shareholders decided to reinvest the dividend in the business.”
Together with Jim Ratcliffe, Andrew Currie and John Reece are the main shareholders in INEOS through their final property structure, with the first possession of more than 60 percent of tenure from 2023.
