The board of directors of Banco Santander today announced its decision to submit a final cash dividend for 2024 of 11 euro cents per share for approval at the forthcoming annual general meeting (AGM), expected to be held on 4 April 2025. As a result, the total cash dividend per share charged to 2024 results will be 21 euro cents, an increase of over 19% compared to the cash dividend against 2023 (17.6 euro cents). The final cash dividend will be paid on 2 May 2025.
The total shareholder remuneration for the 2024 results will be approximately €6.3 billion (around 50% of the group’s attributable profit for 2024), divided equally between cash dividends and share buyback programmes. It represents an equivalent yield of approximately 7%[1]. The Santander share price has increased around 60% in the last 12 months. Earlier this month, the bank started the second share repurchase programme against 2024 results. Since 2021, including the amount of the current buyback, Santander will have returned c.€9.5 billion to shareholders via share buybacks and will have repurchased c.15% of its outstanding shares.
In 2024, Santander achieved record performance for the third consecutive year. As a result, we continue to increase shareholder returns with cash dividend per share from 2024 up 19% year-on-year. Our strategy is proven to deliver profitable growth and we expect to increase our bottom line again in 2025. There is still significant upside in our business and we are committed to continuing to generate value for both our customers and shareholders.
For 2025, Santander is targeting [2] revenue of c.€62 billion; mid-high single digit growth in net fee income in constant euros; cost base down in euros versus 2024; cost of risk of c.1.15%; CET1 of 13% (operating range of 12-13%); and RoTE of over 17% (c.16.5% post-AT1). The strength of the bank’s organic capital generation, which resulted in CET1 rising to 12.8% at the end of 2024, should enable the bank to return up to €10 billion to shareholders in buybacks from 2025 and 2026 earnings and the anticipated excess capital, in addition to its standard cash dividend distribution, subject to corporate and regulatory approvals[3].
