FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION: FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICES - 2019 EDITION

92 Dividend record date: Date on which Euroclear determines the persons who have the right to payment of the dividend on the basis of position balances at the end of its accounting day. In general, this is the day before the payment date. Dividend payment date: Date from which dividends are payable. This date is determined by the issuer and serves as a reference to anchor the other dates. Change in the dividend payment date When the issuer decides to change the date on which dividends are paid to its shareholders, even if this date differs significantly from the dividend payment date in the previous financial period, the market must be notified of this as soon as possible in order to enable participants of derivatives markets, when the issuer’s shares are the underlying of derivative instruments, to factor in the new dividend payment date in their pricing models 149 . Such situations arise notably when payment of the dividend per share will be made during a different derivative maturity period than that in the previous year (for example, a dividend per share paid in June of year Y and ex-dividend date moved to May in year Y+1). The same principles apply when issuers modify their dividend distribution policy by scheduling one or several interim dividend payments or by modifying the ex-dividend date. 149 – AMF Position/ Recommendation no. 2016-08 – Guide to ongoing disclosures and the management of insider information (section 1.4.3).