Banco Santander will repeat for the third consecutive year the date to pay the first dividend from the results of the current year. The entity will pay 8.1 gross cents per share on November 2, which reaches a profitability of 2.4% at current prices. This amount means increasing the dividend by 39% compared to the 2022 payment. In addition, and following the trend of recent years, Santander has approved a new share buyback program, for an amount of 1,310 million euros. Between cash payment and new buybackthe entity will thus achieve the already announced objective of rewarding 50% (over the previous 40%) of the profit achieved throughout this year.
The entity expects to repeat both the cash dividend and the buyback program for the second half of the year, with which the total remuneration for the year 2023 for the shareholder will rise to 2,620 million euros, which represents close to 4.8 % of its current capitalization. In two years, the bank chaired by Ana Botín has increased the cash payment by 67%, when it distributed 0.0485 euros in 2021, which was the first normalized payment since the end of the crisis caused by Covid that led the authorities European companies to limit dividend payments to only 15% of profits at most.
The board of directors of Banco Santander will agree to additional remuneration charged to the 2023 results in the first quarter of 2024, the entity has clarified, estimating the annualized profitability of its remuneration at 9%. Since 2021, Santander has repurchased more than 7% of its outstanding shares through share buybacks.
The board of directors of Banco Santander also announces the appointment of Glenn Hutchins as vice president and lead councilor following the recommendation of the council’s appointments committee. Hutchins’ appointment will be effective on October 1, 2023. José Antonio Álvarez, non-executive director, is also vice president of Banco Santander.
Glenn Hutchins, who joined Santander’s board of directors in 2022 as an external (independent) director, will replace Bruce Carnegie-Brown, who will retire from the board in 2024 after more than nine years. Hutchins will replace Carnegie-Brown as chairman of the board’s remuneration committee from 1 October 2023, with Carnegie-Brown remaining as a member of the board until the 2024 general meeting of shareholders (AGM) to ensure an orderly transition . Carnegie-Brown will also continue to chair the appointments committee until the AGM, and is leaving the executive committee and the innovation and technology committee.