3 October 2024
The Chairman of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, stated this Thursday at a meeting of over 300 shareholders of the Institution that the Bank’s project as a solo institution generates more value for all its shareholders, as the share price performance leading to analysts’ improved target price and to be ranked as the European bank with the highest stock price appreciation during the year shows.
The Bank’s Chairman stated this during his speech, alongside Banco Sabadell’s Chief Executive Officer, César González-Bueno, at a meeting held at the Bank’s corporate centre in Sant Cugat.
The top executives of the Institution were confident that in future the Bank will achieve higher profitability levels than those currently recorded, resulting in an increase in the share value. Oliu pointed out in this regard that ROTE is expected to keep rising above the 13.1% recorded at the end of the first half of the year and to remain above this figure in 2025.
Josep Oliu also mentioned that the management team has consistently beaten the targets set and that the current year “started very positively” in terms of financial activity.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, César González-Bueno, commented that Banco Sabadell “is an attractive and promising project which has not yet reached its peak”. “Our strategy since 2021 has transformed the Bank and its results. We are peaking in terms of profits and have a sound capital position”, he added.
That is why, the CEO remarked that Banco Sabadell’s returns are “sustainable” in the long term, are on an upward trajectory that “has not touched its ceiling yet”, which means that “our commitment to shareholder remuneration remains strong”.
Commitment to shareholders
During the meeting with shareholders, the Chairman Josep Oliu stated that “the Board of Directors rejected the previous merger proposal put forward by BBVA given that it significantly undervalued Banco Sabadell’s project and its growth forecasts as a standalone bank”.
Both the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer commented, when asked by shareholders, that the conditions of BBVA’s offer have not changed over these months.
The Institution’s senior managers explained that, according to the shareholder remuneration policy, the Bank will distribute over the next 18 months an amount equivalent to around 30% of its stock market value. On this basis, they will receive 2.9 billion euros to be paid out of 2024 and 2025 earnings, which represents 53 euro cents per share.
“Banco Sabadell shareholders will receive a recurring and sustainable return in the long term from the Bank’s solo project, thanks to its excellent prospects for recurring returns, its perfectly defined strategy and its minimal exposure to highly volatile markets”, added González-Bueno.
A hostile takeover bid takes longer
With regard to the timelines of the operation and, due to its hostile nature which is unprecedented in the last 20 years in Spain, Oliu stated that the process will be long and could extend until the middle of 2025.
Banco Sabadell’s Chairman explained that prior experiences of this kind of operations indicate that the normal thing would be for the CNMV’s decision to follow that of the CNMC, so that shareholders have all the information they need when making a decision. Josep Oliu remarked in that regard that “many months of uncertainty are ahead of us, and both timelines and decisions in the area of competition are very relevant”.
When talking about this, both Oliu and González-Bueno said that it is essential for the offer to include all of the information and, in that respect, BBVA must clarify certain figures and impacts and put forward the various resulting scenarios, including the cost synergy scenario if the merger did not go ahead. They also reminded shareholders that they do not have to make any decision yet and that it will be after Banco Sabadell’ Board analyses all the details and issues its report that shareholders will have to decide whether or not to sell their shares.
