Date: September 18, 2023 Time: 18:00:13
The dividend paid by listed companies amounted to 22,278.23 million euros between January and August, which is 16.8% more than that paid in the same period a year earlier, when this import reached 19,068 million. According to data published by Spanish Stock Exchanges and Markets (BME), of the amount distributed by companies among their shareholders during the first eight months of the year, the majority, 22,164 million, correspond to dividends.
Regarding the return for share premium, listed companies returned 114.2 million to their shareholders. In the month of August alone, the total dividends paid by the companies reached 566.25 million euros. The volume of dividends paid accumulated in the first eight months of the year, those 22,278.23 million euros, already exceed the 20,474.73 million paid in 2021, and are close to 25,973 in 2022.
By 2023, shareholder remuneration is expected to break a new ceiling worldwide. According to data from Janus Henderson, dividend distribution will reach $1.64 trillion in 2023, 5.2% more than in 2022 but practically half the growth recorded from January to March, despite the context of economic slowdown. One of the factors that explains this rebound is share buybacks, which have accelerated in recent years as a means of indirect shareholder remuneration. A tool with a double positive effect.
First, because the company itself becomes one of the main ‘traders’ and buyers of its own securities on the stock market, boosting the price and liquidity of the security. Second, the subsequent redemption of the shares immediately improves key valuation ratios such as Earnings Per Share (EPS) that analysts and investors look at so much when determining the future valuation of a listed company.
