Major shareholders on the Portuguese stock exchange set to receive €1.3 billion in dividends

The largest shareholders on the Lisbon Stock Exchange are set to receive around €1.28 billion in dividends, corresponding to 40% of the total that Portuguese listed companies are preparing to distribute to investors over the coming months, according to calculations by ECO.

As ECO revealed, PSI companies will pay out €3.1 billion in dividends, an increase of 2.25% on the previous year, promising to distribute to their shareholders around 60% of the profits made in 2025, which turned out to be a very positive year for most listed companies.

The figures show that more than four in every ten euros of dividends will go into the pockets of the largest investors – for the purposes of this article, we have considered shareholders with a stake of 5% or more in a PSI-listed company.

This list is led by the Soares dos Santos family, who will receive nearly €230 million from Jerónimo Martins, the retailer that owns the Pingo Doce supermarkets and in which it holds a controlling stake of over 56%.

Even so, and reflecting the significant weight of foreign capital in the national stock market’s flagship index, the majority of dividends flow out of the country.

China and Angola receive the most

The figures speak for themselves: the largest Portuguese shareholders, including the Soares dos Santos, Azevedo and Mota families, amongst others, will be entitled to approximately €540 million in dividends (around 42% of the dividends allocated to the largest shareholders); whereas foreign shareholders such as China Three Gorges (CTG), Fosun and Sonangol, amongst others, will take home over €740 million (close to 58%).

Furthermore, the second-largest cheque will be issued by EDP to CTG: over €188.5 million is on its way to the Chinese state-owned power company on account of the 21.4% stake it holds in the Portuguese energy firm. Beijing will receive a further €26.5 million relating to the dividend that State Grid will receive from REN.

Still on the subject of Chinese investors, Fosun will receive over €100 million from BCP, and China Communications Construction Company will receive just over €17 million from the construction firm Mota-Engil.

The list continues with Sonangol, which is set to receive nearly €180 million in dividends through two significant holdings that the Angolan state-owned oil company holds on the PSI: BCP will pay out over €99 million and Galp nearly €80 million.

As for Angola, it is also set to receive €60 million in dividends from the operator Nos, due to a 26% stake over which the Angolan state is currently in a legal dispute with the businesswoman Isabel dos Santos.

In other words, shareholders from China and Angola will pocket around €330 million and €240 million respectively.

In addition to the Angolan and Chinese governments, there is another government that will also ‘profit’ from its investment in the Lisbon Stock Exchange: Portugal will receive over €40 million from Galp via Parpública.

Most powerful families stand to gain €500 million

Among the Portuguese families with the greatest weighting in the PSI, alongside the Soares dos Santos family, the Amorim family will receive over €130 million from Galp (€97.3 million) and Corticeira Amorim (€33.3 million).

At the same time, the Azevedo family will be entitled to a dividend of €65.8 million from Sonae – the dividend from Nos is not included, as this will be paid to Sonaecom.

More modest will be the dividends paid to the Queiroz Pereira family (€42.4 million from Semapa), the Mota family (€21.3 million from the construction firm Mota-Engil) and the Champalimaud families (€3.75 million from CTT).

All figures considered, the most powerful families will receive close to €500 million in dividends.