Proximus shares plummet 20 per cent as dividend cuts and layoffs rattle investors
Brussels, Saturday 7 March 2026
The Belgian operator lost a fifth of its value in hours after announcing 1,200 job cuts and halving future dividends to €0.30 to fund infrastructure updates.
Market Confidence Shattered by Strategic Pivot
The Brussels stock exchange witnessed a brutal correction on Thursday, 5 March 2026, as investors reacted viscerally to Proximus’s latest strategic roadmap. By mid-morning on the day of the announcement, the telecom operator’s share price had collapsed to €6.56, down from a closing price of €8.31 the previous evening [1]. This precipitous drop of -21.059 per cent marked a severe vote of no confidence from the market, driven largely by the board’s decision to slash shareholder returns to fund a costly transition toward digital infrastructure [1]. While turnover for 2025 showed resilience, climbing 1.2 per cent to over €6.6 billion, the company’s bottom line told a different story; net profit contracted by 11 per cent to €398 million, weighed down significantly by a €275 million depreciation in its international division [1].
Dividends Sacrificed for Digital Future
For institutional investors and pension funds reliant on steady yields, the most bitter pill was the revision of the dividend policy. To ringfence capital for necessary network upgrades and digitalization, Proximus confirmed that the gross dividend per share would be halved from €0.60 in 2025 to just €0.30 in 2026 [1]. Although the company has outlined a recovery trajectory—projecting a rise to €0.40 in 2027 and €0.50 by 2028—the immediate reduction signals that the transition from a legacy telco to a modern digital enabler is proving more capital-intensive than anticipated [1]. CEO Stijn Bijnens defended the move, framing the strategy as essential for Proximus to become a “locally anchored digital infrastructure champion” capable of serving all generations and sectors [1].
Workforce Reductions in an Automated Era
The strategic overhaul extends beyond the balance sheet to the workforce itself, highlighting the friction between legacy operational models and the efficiencies promised by automation and software scalability. Proximus announced the elimination of 1,200 positions by 2030, representing a reduction of roughly 15.19 per cent of its current 7,900 full-time equivalents [1]. This restructuring follows a previous cut of 1,900 positions in 2019, reinforcing a long-term trend of downsizing [1]. The reduction will be managed through approximately 200 voluntary departures and 800 retirements, a method intended to soften the social impact [1]. However, unions remain skeptical; Fabrice Mathieu of the CGSP Telecom noted that while staff reductions have been ongoing for 25 years, the scale of these figures is particularly alarming [1].
Reshaping the Infrastructure Landscape
This turmoil occurs against a backdrop of intense activity in the Benelux data infrastructure sector, where legacy assets are being repurposed to support the booming digital economy, including high-density computing for AI and SaaS applications. Following the takeover of Proximus sites, Datacenter United (DCU) has shifted its focus toward aggressive growth under the stewardship of shareholder Cordiant Digital Infrastructure [2]. DCU is currently expanding its capacity, having secured an additional 17MW in Antwerp to be developed over the next three years [2]. Crucially, this expansion includes upgrades to cooling systems to improve power usage effectiveness (PUE), a direct response to the region’s electricity supply crunch and the demanding energy requirements of modern digital workloads [2]. This juxtaposition—Proximus shedding weight while specialized infrastructure firms like DCU expand—illustrates the unbundling of the digital economy, where agile, specialized entities are increasingly managing the physical backbone of the internet.
A Long Horizon for Recovery
As Proximus aims to reduce its investment expenditure below €1 billion by 2030, the company is betting that a leaner operation focused on core connectivity will eventually restore value [1]. However, the immediate market volatility suggests that investors remain wary of the execution risks involved in such a deep transformation. With international activities facing heavy depreciation and domestic margins under pressure, the operator’s path to becoming a streamlined digital champion is fraught with challenges [1]. The coming years will test whether the Belgian giant can successfully navigate the pivot to a software-defined future without further eroding its capital base.