Bankinter ended 2013 as the most profitable banking stock in the Euro Stoxx 600

• Ends the year as the most profitable bank in the Euro Stoxx 600 and the second best performing stock in the Ibex 35, with a gain of nearly 150%.
• The Bank’s market capitalisation is up from €1.77 billion at the beginning of 2013 to almost €4.5 billion at year-end.

Madrid, Spain, 7-1-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — Bankinter ended the year 2013 with a gain of almost 150% in its stock market valuation, making it not only the second best performing stock in the Ibex 35, but also the most profitable bank in the Euro Stoxx 600, Europe’s most representative stock market index, which includes its 47 biggest banks.

Thanks to the Bank’s good results, analysts’ rising profit expectations and improved sentiment towards Spanish companies, Bankinter ended the year as one of Spain’s – and Europe’s – stellar stocks of 2013.

Bankinter’s shares started the year at around two euros per share (after the revaluation adjustment for the bonus issue) and ended the year at close to five euros. The stock rallied particularly strongly in the second half of the year, rising from less than three euros to more than five euros per share in the last few days of the year.

This significant growth in market value comes in a year in which the Bank has carried out a bonus issue, charged entirely to the asset revaluation reserve, with no shareholder dilution, and after posting solid results quarter after quarter. Bankinter’s latest figures, corresponding to the first nine months of the year, show a net profit of €155.8 million, 115.5% more than in the same period of the previous year. Aside from its improved results, the Bank has also been praised for its low level of non-performing loans throughout the year. The Bank succeeded in keeping its non-performing loan ratio down to 4.99% until the third quarter of the year; this is less than half the sector average.

The combined effect of the capital increase and the rise in share price was to raise Bankinter’s market capitalisation from the €1.77 billion at which it ended 2012 to nearly €4.5 billion at the end of 2013. Bankinter, the best-performing stock in Spain’s-and indeed Europe’s-banking sector, was further bolstered by its solid figures and a change in sentiment towards the Spanish stock market in general and Spain’s financial sector in particular. Both of these points were reflected in the decrease in Spain’s risk premium, which at year-end was at its lowest level for more than two and a half years.

In the past few months this combination of factors has led to an influx of foreign capital to the Spanish market in search of profitability. Within this objective, Bankinter has been one of the favourite stocks, as can be seen from the trading figures. The average daily number of Bankinter shares traded was 5.2 million in 2013, compared with 2.4 million in 2012. In value terms, the daily volume traded was around €19.5 million in 2013, as against €8.4 million in 2012, according to data provided by Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME).

External recognition
Throughout the year Bankinter has received numerous shows of support from analysts covering its stock. For example in the past few months it has received favourable reports from HSBC, Santander and Citi analysts. The rating agencies have also backed the work of the Bank and its management team. In this respect, a few weeks ago Standard & Poor’s (S&P) credit rating agency raised its outlook on Bankinter from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’, the second upgrade in scarcely four months.

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