High-street lender Banco Santander (LSE:BNC) recorded a better-than-expected profit of €6.06 billion (£5.1 billion) for the first half of 2024, marking a 16% increase from the same period last year.
The Spanish bank said net interest income reached a record €23.46 billion, driven by growth across Retail, Corporate and Wealth sectors.
It was a pleasing statement all around for Santander, with credit quality remaining within expected guidelines and the CET1 ratio, which is a crucial measure of a bank’s financial health, increasing 20 basis points to 12.5%.
Shareholder returns were strong, with the bank paying a final cash dividend of 9.5 euro cents per share against 2023 results, bringing the total cash dividend per share for the year to 17.60 euro cents.
Santander opted to increase its full-year revenue targets from mid-single-digit growth to high-single-digit growth.
CET1 is expected to remain above 12%.
Executive chair Ana Botín stated: “In the context of a volatile geopolitical environment, we are confident that we will deliver on the more ambitious targets set out today thanks to our diversification across businesses and markets, the strength of our model, and the quality of our team - to whom I am again extremely grateful.”
Shares jumped 3% on Wednesday.