Banco Santander Q1 Pre-tax Profit Down, Attributable Profit Edges Up; Confirms FY23 View

(RTTNews) - Spanish financial services Group Banco Santander S.A. (BNC.L, BSBR, SAN) reported Tuesday that its first-quarter profit before tax was 3.83 billion euros, 8.1 percent lower than last year's 4.17 billion euros.

Underlying profit before tax was 4.10 billion euros, 2 percent lower than last year.

Attributable profit was 2.57 billion euros, up 1.1 percent from 2.54 billion euros a year ago, driven by a 13 percent increase in income, supported by strong growth in customer activity, robust asset quality, and good cost control.

Earnings per share were 0.15 euro, up 6.4 percent from 0.14 euro last year.

The full-year impact of the temporary levy in Spain of 224 million euros was recorded in the first quarter. Excluding this impact, attributable profit would be 2.80 billion euros, up 10 percent in current euros.

Net operating income of 7.79 billion euros went up 15 percent from the prior year. Total income grew to 13.94 billion euros from last year's 12.31 billion euros.

Fee income was up 7 percent yoy in constant euros, with particularly good growth in payments, Santander CIB, and Wealth Management and Insurance.

Customer funds grew 5 percent to 1.12 trillion euros, with good growth in deposits in all regions. Total loans increased 3 percent, with mortgages and consumer lending up 2 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The company said its recent AGM approved a final cash dividend against 2022 of 5.95 euro cents per share, payable from May 2. This results in total cash dividend at 11.78 euro cents, up 18 percent versus the previous year.

Looking ahead, the bank said it remains on track to meet the 2023 targets, including double-digit income growth; RoTE above 15 percent; cost-to-income ratio of 44-45 percent; fully-loaded CET1 above 12 percent, and cost of risk below 1.2 percent.

Ana Botin, Banco Santander executive chair, said, "Despite recent volatility, we are on track to meet our 2023 targets, achieving 5 percent increase in tangible net asset value per share plus cash dividend per share since the start of the year."

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