The Company’s Board of Directors has maintained a policy of dividend distribution based on the following rules:
- A total dividend between 40% and 50% of the ordinary consolidated net earnings adjusted for the accounting effects of the adoption of IFRS16 as it does not represent cash disbursements;
- if, by applying the above mentioned criteria, there is a drop in the dividend of a certain year compared to that of the previous year, and the Board of Directors considers that this decrease results from abnormal and merely circumstantial situations, it may propose that the value from the previous year should be maintained. It may even resort to the existing free reserves, providing that the use of these reserves does not jeopardise the principles adopted for balance sheet management.
At the 20 April 2023 AGM, following the Board of Directors’ proposal, it was resolved to distribute dividends in a total amount of 345.6 million euros.
This translated in a gross dividend of 0.55 euros per share (excluding the 859,000 own shares in the portfolio), paid in May 2023, representing a payout of c.50% of ordinary consolidated net earnings (or c.56% of the consolidated net earnings) excluded from the effects of IFRS16.
Taking into consideration the consolidated net earnings for 2023, the Board of Directors will propose to the Annual General Shareholder’s Meeting, the distribution of 411.6 million euros of dividends, in line with the defined policy.
This proposal corresponds to a gross dividend of 0.655 euros per share (excluding the 859,000 shares in the portfolio), representing a payout of c.50% of ordinary consolidated net earnings (or c.54% of the consolidated net earnings) excluded from the effects of IFRS16.
The proposed dividend distribution preserves the Group’s full flexibility to continue investing in accordance with its expansion plans and take advantage of potential opportunities of non-organic growth, while maintaining a strong balance.