The return to school of the market is expected, in the distance, somewhat boring in view of the drought of dividends that is glimpsed for the month of September. Bankinter is one of the few companies in the Continuum that will pay its shareholders, according to forecasts, and will do so on the 28th with a payment that yields 1.3% at current prices. Analysts’ forecasts predict a dividend for the entity headed by María Dolores Dancausa for a gross amount of 0.064 euros per title of the total of four subscriptions distributed throughout the year.
This payment would be the second charged to the 2022 accounts after the one distributed in June, which was 0.074 euros. In order to access it, it is necessary to have shares from before the September 26 session, which is when the cut-off date has been set and in which the shares will already be listed without the right to receive it.
In total, analysts expect the orange entity’s annual dividend to rise to 0.267 euros, which represents a return of 5.3%, despite the fact that it is still below the amount it distributed prior to Covid (0.29 euros). With a charge to 2023, it is estimated that Bankinter’s remuneration will exceed this figure. The consensus expects an annual payment of 31 gross cents per share, which would reach a return of 6.2% if the bank’s shares were bought today, which have just recovered 5 euros after rising 7% from the lows of July.
Even so, the fall is still large if one takes into account that the wave of interest rates took its shares to touch 6.11 euros at the end of last June.
The Spanish bank launched to proclaim the return of its remuneration when in September 2021 the prohibition of the European Central Bank (ECB) that had been limiting its payments to preserve capital in the face of the pandemic expired. Entities once again recovered historically high distribution percentages, reaching up to 60%, even in the case of BBVA; with an average payout of 50% (Bankinter, CaixaBank and Unicaja) or 40% of Banco Santander, in addition to approving three share buyback programs for an amount close to 7,000 million euros.
Now the recession that is in the making in the euro zone and the impact of inflation on delinquencies have led the authorities to recommend caution in the distribution of dividends again. At the moment, no entity has ruled on this and they maintain the policy announced after the pandemic in force.
Bankinter maintains a distribution policy equivalent to 50% of the group’s net profit. The only guidance that the entity has released is the objective of achieving a net profit of 550 million euros by 2023 and the consensus has finally aligned with the entity. It is expected that it will even exceed this amount at the end of that year and, in this way, Bankinter will cover the profit gap left by after its spin-off from the company last year.