BBVA launches its new share buyback program worth 1 billion this Monday

MADRID, 2 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

BBVA will launch this Monday the execution of its new share buyback program for an amount of 1,000 million euros after receiving authorization from the European Central Bank (ECB), as reported by the entity.

This share repurchase is considered extraordinary shareholder remuneration and is additional to BBVA's dividend distribution. Its policy establishes a payout (or distribution among its shareholders) of between 40% and 50% of the profit, between cash dividends and possible buybacks of additional shares.

In line with its commitment to maintaining "attractive" shareholder remuneration, the bank announced this program on July 28, relying on its capital position, with a 'fully loaded' CET1 ratio of 12.99% at the end of the month of June.

Since 2021, BBVA has distributed €8.2 billion to its shareholders between dividends and share buybacks. If the recently announced interim dividend for 2023 and this extraordinary share repurchase are added, the figure will rise to around 10.2 billion in the period, the entity has highlighted.

"BBVA is firmly committed to creating value for its shareholders. Thus, from January 2021 to date, BBVA's total shareholder return, including share performance and dividends, has increased by 121%, well above the 73% average of its European competitors and the 75% of the Spanish competitors," the bank highlighted in a statement.

This buyback program will be implemented through the acquisition of three million shares daily, until the target amount of 1,000 million euros is reached.

Specifically, BBVA will be in charge of executing the buyback in the Spanish Continuous Market and in DXE Europe, in which the entity has set a daily objective of buying 2,500,000 and 500,000 shares, respectively.

BBVA already used this format in its previous buyback program. What begins this Monday is the second extraordinary share buyback that the entity has carried out in the last two years.

Thus, on August 19, 2022, BBVA completed another share buyback program, for an amount of 3,160 million euros, "one of the largest in Europe", as the bank has highlighted. In said repurchase, the bank acquired a total of 637,770,016 shares, representing 9.6% of the entity's capital as of that date.

In addition, on April 21, 2023, BBVA concluded a buyback for an amount of 422 million euros, in which it acquired 64.64 million treasury shares, approximately 1.07% of BBVA's share capital, in execution of its dividends and which, therefore, were considered ordinary remuneration to the shareholder corresponding to the 2022 financial year.