Sepi, Stc and Criteria will receive more than 500 million in 2025 as Telefónica shareholders before dividend reduction

However, From 2026 this figure will be significantly reduced as a result of the new strategic plan launched by the company chaired by Marc Murtra on November 4 and which, among other “difficult” measures, includes a significant adjustment of the dividend.

The general meeting of shareholders of Telefónica, held on April 10, approved the distribution of a dividend of 0.30 euros gross in 2025, payable in two installments of 0.15 euros. The first was paid on June 19, while December 18 was set as the collection date for the second.

Taking into account the stake currently held by the three main shareholders of the company, which is the same as in June, This year, each of them is responsible for around 170 million euros gross of dividends from Telefónica.

Of this amount, Sepi (which owns 10% of Telefónica’s capital), CriteriaCaixa (9.99%) and Stc (9.97%) each received around 85 million euros six months ago, while this Thursday they will pocket the remaining 85 million euros more.

Future dividends

However, the 510 million euros that the three main shareholders of Telefónica will collect will be halved in 2026, to 255 million euros. As long as their participation in the capital of the operator remains unchanged.

One of the announcements made by Telefónica during the Capital Markets Day (CMD) on November 4 was the modification of the shareholder remuneration policy from 2026 with the objective of gain flexibility to be able to execute the new Transform & Grow strategic plan.

Concretely, the company has proposed to halve the dividend to be paid during the calendar year 2026, which will consist of a single payment of 0.15 euros in the month of June. From this date, the company will offer, in due time, the adoption of the corresponding appropriate company agreements.

Without giving a precise figure, Telefónica announced that the remuneration target for 2027 and 2028 will be based on a range of between 40% and 60% of base free cash flow (FCF) for the dividend.

Difficult decisions

When presenting the strategic plan, Murtra explained that Telefónica’s executive team had chosen to take decisions that are “difficult to explain or difficult to understand” and that his predecessors as president of Telefónica had until then hesitated to adopt it.

The most obvious was the downward revision of the dividend. In the past, the company He has already slightly reduced his amount on certain occasions (for example, in 2021 it was lowered from 0.40 to 0.30 euros) or resorted to the figure of stock dividend (which allows the shareholder to choose whether they wish to receive it in cash or in shares) to adapt the remuneration to their financial situation.

Even he canceled it twice. The first between 1998 and 2003, even if during these years the company carried out free capital increases. The second in 2012 with the objective of giving priority to cleaning up its accounts and reducing debt.

The reduction announced for 2026 and subsequent years will also mean that the dividend yield becomes in line with the European sector averagesince in recent years, it has been one of the operators in the Old Continent which has best remunerated its shareholders.

The remuneration policy proposed by Murtra had the support of the government (through Sepi), CriteriaCaixa and Stcsince the three shareholders have a representative on the board of directors of Telefónica, which unanimously approved the strategic plan designed by Murtra and his team.

all are willing to support the president of the group during the financing of any operation which can occur at a good price and result in obvious return on capital and synergies. In short, respect the roadmap set by Murtra for Telefónica to grow and generate long-term value.