Santander faces its Investor Day with the market's attention focused on the 'payout'

MADRID, 26 Feb.

Santander faces its Investor Day with the market's attention focused on the 'payout'

MADRID, 26 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Banco Santander will celebrate next Tuesday, February 28, its Investor Day in London, which will be attended by the president, Ana Botín; the CEO, Héctor Grisi, and the financial director, José García Cantera, to present the group's strategy and prospects to markets that are waiting for the announcement of an increase in payout, according to the consensus of analysts consulted by Europa Press .

The bank agreed to distribute 40% of its profits from last year, to distribute between dividends and share buyback programs, although some analysis houses foresee that this number will end up rising.

The analysts who see the most upside potential for the payout are Pamela Zuluaga and Luarence Jones of Credit Suisse. The entity considers that Santander has the margin to announce a dividend distribution target of 60%, maintaining the division equally between dividends and repurchases. This shareholder remuneration policy for the entire three-year strategy (2023-2025) would mean a distribution of more than 20,000 million for the period.

The Renta 4 analyst Nuria Álvarez also spoke on this issue, considering that dividends and remuneration will be a "key" aspect during Tuesday's event.

"With a market that is expecting an improvement in shareholder remuneration with an increase in the current payout of 40% (half in cash and half in share repurchases), we believe that the absence of messages in this regard would not be well received by the price", warned Álvarez.

In any case, the Renta 4 analyst expects that the strategy and messages will be "continuous" and that the objectives for this year point to a CET1 capital ratio in its 'fully loaded' variant of more than 12% and a return on capital net income (RoTE) above 15%.

Fernando Gil de Santivañes, an analyst at the Bestinver group securities company, supports these theses and also points out that the messages of the event will be continuous and focused on the allocation of capital and the improvement of the capital return policy.

"We estimate that the bank will maintain the division between dividends and repurchases and we expect it to distribute 9,000 million euros," he indicated.

JPMorgan analysts Sofie Peterzens and Kian Abouhossein do not anticipate exact payout data for the coming years, but they do expect Santander to improve remuneration in the form of dividends. Thus, if this year it has been around 20%, by 2023 it will reach 21.3%, to rise to 23.6% in 2024 and moderate to 22.7% in 2025.

Santander closed last Friday with a price of 3.48 euros, the highest in the last 12 months. Of the 29 securities analysis houses that cover Banco Santander and are included in the 'Bloomberg' terminal, 69% of them recommend 'buy', while 27.6% bet on 'hold' and only one ( 3.4%) advise 'selling'.

The consensus 12-month price target is 4.36 euros, which shows an upside potential of more than 25% for the next year.

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