Dividends
Equita, the solid, diversified and highly-profitable investment bank
Equita benefits from a particular business model that invests in capital-light initiatives. This allows the Group to use the cash generated from net profits to fund distributions to shareholders, M&A transactions and new initiatives to foster organic growth, keeping at the same time financial soundness as demonstrated by the strong capital ratios, well above minimum capital requirements.
Historically, Equita has always distributed to its shareholders 100% of net profits. Since 2017, following the admission to AIM Italia (today Euronext Growth Milan) and the transition to the STAR segment of Borsa Italiana in 2018, Equita has decided to retain each year a portion of net profits, to pursue a more conservative approach aimed at promoting more stability to the dividends and finance potential accretive corporate finance transactions.
A growth story, distinguished by sound dividends
Equita has not announced any dividend policy but since listed has always distributed a significant portion of net profits. This has been made possible thanks to the Group's financial soundness, the focus on capital-light initiatives and the direct involvement of managers and employees in the share capital of the Company.
More in detail:
- Capital ratios are significantly above the minimum regulatory requirements
- Business model focuses on capital-light initiatives and this enables the Company to distribute a significant component of its profits
- Management and employees are invested in the company's share capital and they benefit from the dividend distribution. Dividends are a significant portion of the variable remuneration of Equita's professionals
- Management is long-term oriented and every year retains part of net profits with the aim to ensure more stability to the distributions to shareholders in case of need
2022-2024 Business Plan
Shareholders’ remuneration is a priority and a key part of the three-year business plan announced in March 2022. Over the plan, Equita commits to distribute more than €50 million of dividends. This decision is underpinned by the capital strength of the Group, the expected net profits of the three-year period 2022-2024, the Equita’s retained earnings since IPO and other reserves available for distribution.
The dividends distributed by Equita since the IPO
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dividend Yield (DPS / Average yearly price) | 9% | 11% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 7% |
| Dividend per Share (DPS, €) (B/E) | 0.35 (0.20 I tranche / 0.15 II tranche |
0.35 (0.20 I tranche / 0.15 II tranche |
0.20 (0.10 I tranche / 0.10 II tranche) |
0.19 | 0.22 | 0.22 |
| Payment date |
24 May 2023 (I tranche) 22 November 2023 (II tranche |
25 May 2022 (I tranche) 23 November 2022 (II tranche |
12 May 2021 (I tranche) 10 November 2021 (II tranche) |
10 June 2020 | 8 May 2019 | 9 May 2018 |
| Ex-dividend date |
22 May 2023 (I tranche) 20 November 2023 (II tranche) |
23 May 2022 (I tranche) 21 November 2022 (II tranche) |
10 May 2021 (I tranche) 8 November 2021 (II tranche) |
8 June 2020 | 6 May 2019 | 7 May 2018 |
| Coupon (#) |
8 (I tranche) 9 (II tranche) |
6 (I tranche) 7 (II tranche) |
4 (I tranche) 5 (II tranche) |
3 | 2 | 1 |
| Net Profits (€m) (A) | 15.2 (16.2**) | 21.5 | 12.3 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 11.0 |
| Total Dividend (€m) (B) | 17.0 | 16.5 | 9.2 | 8.6 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Payout ratio (%) (B/A) | 108% (102%**) | 75% | 75% | 91% | 91% | 90% |
| N.o Total Shares (m) (C) | 50.9 | 50.5 | 50.2 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 50.0 |
| N.o Treasury Shares (m) (D) | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| N.ro Outstanding Shares (m) (E=C-D) |
47.7 |
46.5 | 46.1 | 45,3 | 45.3 | 45.3 |
| Retained earnings in the year (€) (A-B) | (1.8) | 5.0 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 2.0* | 1.0 |
| Cumulated retained earnings (€m) | 10.2 | 12.0 | 7.0 | 3.9* | 3.0* | 1.0 |
| Retained earnings per share (€) | 0.21 | 0.26 | 0.15 | 0.08 | 0.06 | 0.04 |
* Including €1.0 million of Adjusted Net Profit 2018 to adjust the non recurring items linked to the IPO of Equita Group
** Excludes the monetization of the 2020-2022 Equita Group incentive plan based on stock options and addressed to Top Management
Disclaimer: the Company has not announced any specific dividend policy. What stated above is a factual representation of what happened in the recent past and shows the ability of Equita to distribute dividends on a recurring basis.
Receive all financial information on Equita (press releases, financial statements, presentations, etc.).
Stay up to date
Subscribe to receive Equita's press releases, presentations, financial statements, reports and more.
Contact us
For more information about financial performance, strategy and Group's initiatives, please get in touch with the Investor Relations' team.
ir@equita.eu