By Jesús Aguado
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Santander said on Tuesday its board had decided to make an interim distribution from 2021 earnings through a cash dividend and share buyback worth 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion, equivalent to 40% of its first-half underlying profit.
The announcement comes after the ECB said in July it would lift restrictions on bank dividend remuneration and share buybacks beyond September, clawing back a crisis measure that forced lenders to retain capital during the pandemic.
The board approved the payment of an interim cash dividend against 2021 results of 4.85 euro cents per share, equivalent to 20% of the group’s underlying profit in the first half of 2021, to be paid from November 2.
In addition, it agreed to implement a share repurchase programme for about 20% of the group’s underlying profit in the first half of 2021 for approximately 841 million euros, for which it received the approval from the ECB.
It said a further announcement setting out the terms of the repurchase programme will be made before it starts.
($1 = 0.8537 euros)
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado, editing by Andrei Khalip and Sonya Hepinstall)
