This Tuesday, Santander's board of directors approved a 39% increase in the interim dividend charged to the 2023 accounts and an investment of more than 1,300 million euros in the repurchase of shares, which will reduce the number of securities in circulation and will increase the unit value of each of them. The two measures represent a strong improvement in shareholder remuneration.
The decision responds to the historical profit of the first half, of 5,241 million euros, and to the change in the remuneration policy adopted in February of this year, when the percentage of profits distributed among shareholders was raised from 40% to 50%. . In addition, the entity has been carrying out share buybacks, so that it now has 7% fewer securities.
What the board has approved is an "approximately equal" distribution between the cash dividend and share buybacks. It will pay 8.1 gross euro cents per share as interim remuneration, compared to 5.8 cents a year earlier.
To make this payment - it will do so starting November 2 - it will use 25% of the first half of the profit, that is, about 1,310 million euros. A similar percentage will be dedicated to a share repurchase plan.
For this plan, the bank must obtain regulatory authorization from the European Central Bank (ECB). BBVA, which earned 3,878 million in the first half, has also announced a similar buyback program and is awaiting permission from the central bank.
The bank's income increased by 13% in the semester, up to 28,234 million euros, thanks above all to the increase in interest margins, that is, to the difference between income from loans and expenses for the remuneration of deposits .
The improvement occurred thanks to the increases in interest rates and without signs of concern in variables such as delinquency, which fell to 3.05%, and quality capital, which is equivalent to 12.2%, above the demands of the ECB.
