The Spanish investor likes the dividend. It has always been this way, in a country where listed companies have historically given priority to shareholder remuneration. But now he loves her even more. According to the study The Spanish individual investorprepared by the communications agency Evercom, to which he had access elEconomista.es, 26% of investors are oriented towards dividends, five points more than a year ago.
To draw these conclusions, interviews were carried out with the directors of investor relations of the companies of the Ibex 35, Mercado Continuo and BME Growth (the SME stock exchange), with the aim of analyzing the present and the he future of relations between listed companies and retailers. This is the second edition of this survey, born in 2023.
Above this 26%, 40% of respondents emphasized that the main characteristic of the investor retail Spanish is his long-term approach; This data does not change from last year. 20% of those surveyed consider their minority shareholders to be “speculators”. only 6% perceive them as irrational, guided by their emotions and according to market fluctuations. This last percentage is the only one that decreases significantly compared to last year, when 16% of participants described the behavior of retailers as “irrational”.
The attractiveness of the Ibex 35 dividends has increased in recent weeks. The index has fallen by around 4% since mid-October, which has favored the profitability of its remuneration, which already reaches 4.7% in 2024. This figure contrasts with the 3.3% offered by the EuroStoxx 50, 3.4% of the Stoxx 600 or 1.3% of the S&P 500. Estimates collected by FactSet indicate that, given the expected earnings for 2025, the yield in Spanish index dividends reach 4.8%, and in 2026 it already amounts to 5.1%. Among Spanish listed companies, some of the most attractive remunerations are offered by Unicaja (which offers 8.8% with its profits expected for 2025), Repsol (8.7%) or CaixaBank (8%). The European stock market is down 2% from its purchase zone.
More weight of the individual investor
60% of respondents consider it “necessary” for the market to include retail space again in IPOs, ten points more than in the previous survey. Over the last 10 years, with the exception of Aena (and a small tranche of the Opdenergy IPO), we have not seen IPOs in Spain with a tranche reserved for small investors, after the losses caused by the Bankia scandal. The big IPO of 2024, that of the cosmetics company Puig, with a valuation close to 14 billion euros, did not include it, nor was there an option in that of Inmocemento (since it was created yesterday in the format of registration), nor in that of Cox Energy, which will be introduced to the market this Thursday.
Retailers continue to have limited influence in listed companies, but the study reveals that they have fattened a little: in 60% of companies, small shareholders already exceed 10% of the capital. Last year, they only exceeded this 10% weight in 53% of companies.
What is not progressing is the participation of this type of investors on Boards of Directors. General shareholders. Three out of four companies explain that their presence at this annual event does not exceed 10%, the same figure as a year ago. In most cases, companies do not offer incentives such as attendance bonuses to improve this data. On the other hand, 29% of companies indicate that participation in Councils has increased slightly thanks to the formats onlinewhile 31% believe that it has remained stable and only 3% believe that it has worsened. In 10 years, 100% of general meetings will be held only “online”, compared to 5% currently.
Communication with retailers improves: 43% of companies have a proactive communication strategy with investors retaila percentage which increases by 11 points compared to the previous edition. Of course, only 38% of companies adapt the messages and tone of their communication with him in mind.
26% of companies listed in Spain communicate with retail investors at least once a month. Another 40% do not maintain regular communicationexcept in exceptional circumstances or at the request of the investors themselves. Regarding the information that listed companies share with their retail investors, 100% of companies share financial information; More than seven in ten also include non-financial data (such as sustainability or corporate governance strategies) and 20% of companies offer loyalty programs and special promotions for its shareholders, four points more than in the previous study.
