Spain’s listed companies return to cash dividends
Spain’s listed companies are returning to paying dividends to shareholders after avoiding them during the pandemic and only offering scrip dividends to preserve funds in a moment where profits went down. By September 30th, 2022, total scrip dividends decreased by 16.8%, down to €3.3 billion compared to the same period from 2021, according to the stock exchange operator BME.
Dividend policy is thus back to normal as investors tend to prefer cash payments. Spanish equities are still attractive: with an estimated dividend yield of more than 5% by 2023, the Ibex 35 retains its position as the most generous index for shareholders in Europe and globally. Spain’s companies distributed EUR 19.8 billion in dividends in the first nine months of the year.
Spain, amongst Europe’s top-three most attractive countries for real estate investors
Spain is the third most attractive market in Europe for real estate investors along with United Kingdom and the Netherlands, according to a survey of the British property services company Savills. The firm says that “70% of those who took part in the study see it very likely or likely to invest in Spain in the next 12 months.”
The survey, called ‘EME Investor Sentiment’, involved real estate investors with total assets under management in EMEA of more than EUR 500 billion euros. This means that the country could lure more money from foreign investors in a key economic moment. Margarita Delgado, Bank of Spain’s deputy governor, said last month that despite the recent demand increase in the real estate market, signs of slower real estate activity and deceleration in prices are arising.
Madrid tops international investment in Spain
Madrid is a magnet for foreign investment. Between 2019 and 2021, foreign investment flows increased in the region by 46%, with foreign companies becoming a key factor in employment and wealth creation. As a result, Madrid was the main recipient of funds in Spain during that period.
According to Spain’s National Statistics Institute, in the last financial year, 2021, Madrid attracted €21.8 billion euros out of the €29.7 billion that came into the country, which means 73.5% of the total. In other words, the Madrid regions receives approximately three out of every four euros of foreign investment landed in Spain.
