Banco Santander's board of directors has announced a proposed final cash dividend for 2024 of 11 euro cents per share, which will be presented for approval at the upcoming annual general meeting on April 4, 2025. This decision will bring the total cash dividend per share for the year to 21 euro cents, marking an increase of over 19% from the previous year's dividend of 17.6 euro cents. The payment is scheduled for May 2, 2025.
The total shareholder remuneration related to the 2024 results is expected to reach approximately €6.3 billion, which constitutes about half of the group's attributable profit for that year. This amount will be evenly split between cash dividends and share buyback programs, offering an equivalent yield of roughly 7%. Over the past year, Santander's share price has seen a significant rise of around 60%.
In early February, Santander initiated its second share repurchase program tied to the 2024 results. Since starting such buybacks in 2021, and including this latest effort, the bank will have returned approximately €9.5 billion to shareholders through repurchases and bought back about 15% of its outstanding shares.
Santander reported an attributable profit of €12,574 million in 2024, reflecting a growth rate of 14% compared to the previous year. The group also noted improvements in profitability metrics with a return on tangible equity (RoTE) reaching 16.3%, earnings per share increasing by 18% to €0.77, and a tangible net asset value (TNAV) per share standing at €5.24 by year-end.
Looking ahead to 2025, Santander aims for revenue around €62 billion and mid-high single-digit growth in net fee income in constant euros. The bank also plans cost reductions compared to last year and targets a cost-of-risk figure near c.1.15%, with CET1 capital ratio aimed at approximately 13%. The RoTE target is set above 17%, or around c.16.5% post-AT1.
The bank's strong organic capital generation saw its CET1 ratio rise to 12.8% by end-2024, which could facilitate returning up to €10 billion to shareholders through buybacks using profits from both current and future years alongside excess capital returns—pending corporate and regulatory approvals.