Spanish financial markets bid farewell to 2022 with 18 stock market debuts and more shareholder returns

• Spain consolidates its position as one of the markets with the highest dividend yield (4%) after increasing shareholder remuneration by 29%
• A total of 18 companies have joined the markets this year: 15 on BME Growth, two on the main market and one on Latibex
• BME's fixed income markets have 85 outstanding sustainable issues, compared to 63 the previous year
• The number of IBEX 35© Futures contracts traded rose 5% in the year

BME today presented the 2022 Market Report, detailing the highlights of the past year in the financial markets. Jos Dijsselhof, Chairman of BME, and Javier Hernani, CEO, explained the main milestones of a year marked by the war in Ukraine, the change of course in the monetary policy of the main central banks to combat inflation and the threat of economic slowdown.

Jos Dijsselhof highlighted two of the key points of the group's action this year: digitalization, which is already a disruptive reality, and sustainability, a field in which the company has a clear commitment and in which it hopes to expand its range of products.  He also indicated that the financial market infrastructure sector, in which SIX ranks third in Europe after the acquisition of BME, "has grown by 5% annually worldwide since 2012 and in the last 15 years has generated the highest total shareholder returns in the financial services sector".

For his part, Javier Hernani stressed that "despite 2022 being a difficult year that opens a new stage of uncertainty, Spanish companies are tackling the difficulty posed by this new scenario in better conditions than in the past. In the last decade, bank financing of IBEX 35® companies has gone from 50% to 26% of their financial liabilities, while resources materialized in debt securities registered in the markets now represent 55% compared to 40% ten years ago".

Despite the delicate context, 18 companies have joined BME's markets so far this year: two on the main market (Opdenergy and Atrys Health), one on Latibex (Neoenergia) and 15 on BME Growth ((including the two companies that will join by the end of the year).

Once again, one of the strong points of the Spanish stock market was shareholder remuneration, which grew 29% to over 23.6 billion euros in the year to November. Of note was the sharp increase in share buybacks as a means of shareholder remuneration. In total, 26 share buybacks were recorded with a market value of 13.8 billion euros, three times more than the previous year and all-time high. Partly thanks to this growth, Spain stands out internationally with a dividend yield of 3.9%. Moreover, this commitment to shareholder remuneration is long-term, with a historical average of 4% over the last 35 years.

The financial markets continued to allow companies to finance their growth plans. The amount raised by BME Growth companies was 863 million euros, while companies in the main market raised 6.1 billion euros in 115 capital increases.    

The volume traded in equities in the year to November fell by 4.7% to 333.8 billion euros. In contrast, trading in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and warrants increased this year. In the case of ETFs, trading grew by 4% to 1.5 billion euros, while trading in warrants on the Spanish stock exchange doubled to 550 million euros.

Fixed income markets were heavily influenced by rising interest rates and the resulting falls in bond prices. The total outstanding amount of Spanish public debt in the regulated fixed income market grew by 7% to 1.33 trillion euros, while the volume of Spanish private debt issued and admitted to trading in the regulated market rose by 3.2% to 108.2 billion euros. In this field, the strong increase in the issuance of promissory notes stands out, which has grown by 89% to 6.7 billion euros, because companies have opted to concentrate their issuance in the short term given the uncertainty in the market.

The MARF has now reached 134 issuers and its volume of issues and admissions has reached 12.5 billion euros.

Although at the international level sustainable issues suffered a significant drop in 2022, 28 green, social and sustainable fixed income issues were admitted to trading in the markets and fixed income platforms managed by BME up to November for a total amount of more than 52.6 billion euros. There are now 85 outstanding issues of this type, compared to 63 at the end of 2021.

In the Financial Derivatives area, the number of IBEX 35© Futures contracts traded grew by 4.9% to 5.1 million. As a result, the volume cleared in BME Clearing on this product also grew 6%. In addition, there was a record settlement of Italian sovereign debt. 

In April this year, SIX completed the acquisition of the 50% it did not control of REGIS-TR, Europe's leading trade repository. It has 2,000 customers in 37 countries and a 55% share of the total EMIR reporting market in the EU.

Related documents:

* Link to Market Report 2022 (only in spanish)

* Link to speeches

* Link to photo album