Banco Sabadell shows record profits of 1,390 million after repelling BBVA’s takeover bid

Although the British subsidiary Telecommunication Standardization Bureau It was sold to Banco Santander for more than $3,000 million last summer, in the middle of a takeover bid, and its cash will largely be allocated to distributing a total dividend of $2,500 million to shareholders. The Catalan entity is still announcing in its accounts the behavior of that territory since the operation is scheduled to be implemented in the first quarter of 2026, once Santander obtains all regulatory licenses. Thus, Bank of Communications achieved a net individual profit of 198 million pounds as of the end of the third quarter, which represents an increase of 43.9% year-on-year, due to cost control and the positive impact of interest rate hedging. Its contribution to the group’s profits amounted to 242 million euros, allowing it to continue increasing the historical results of the entity.

Dividends in particular are one of the great assets Sabadell played during the takeover attempt to fend off BBVA. Now that the attack attempt has ended in failure, the bank reaffirms its directives for distributing profits. “The entity is generating high levels of capital organically and frequently with the potential to continue to provide attractive rewards to its shareholders in the coming years. The estimate for the period 2025-2027 is 6.450 million euroswhich represents approximately 40% of Banco Sabadell’s current market capitalization. “The company maintains its expectations that the cash dividends in 2025, 2026 and 2027 will be higher than those paid in 2024 (20.44 cents per share),” confirms the Catalan group.

Returning to the details of the income statement, the establishment’s profitability, measured by root, increased to 15% (14.1% recurring), compared to 13.2% a year ago, while it reached Solvency Ratio CET1 It grew by 18 basis points in the quarter and 72 basis points in the January-September period, reaching 13.74%, already discounting dividends.

Banco Sabadell CEO, César González Bueno, emphasized that “once the takeover offer has been completed, the strong third-quarter results reaffirm the entity in the year-end targets set in the 2025-2027 Strategic Plan, and confirm our expectations for shareholder remuneration of €6,450 million in the three-year period.” For his part, Chief Financial Officer Sergio Pallavicino highlighted “the positive contribution to the results of all business sectors and the positive development of the quality of the balance sheet, with a new decrease in the percentage of non-performing loans and a greater than expected improvement in the total cost of risk.”

In terms of business, between January and September 2025, Sabadell generated income from banking (interest margin plus net commissions) of EUR 4,659 million, 2% lower year-on-year, and the gross profit margin remained at EUR 4,740 million, an increase of 0.3% year-on-year.

This behavior is due to the fact that the effect of interest rate cuts in Europe can be seen in the interest spread. he Interest margin They amounted to €3,628 million, representing a decrease year-on-year by 3.2% and 0.5% quarter-on-quarter, while net commissions increased to €1,032 million at the end of September 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.1% in the group, as a result of higher asset management and insurance prices.

Total costs amounted to €2,282 million in the first nine months of the year, representing a decrease of 1.1% year-on-year. The group’s efficiency rate reached 48.1% in September.