The bank’s profit plunged after it took a EUR1.81bn charge on its Spanish real-estate holdings and wrote down goodwill on its Portuguese unit by EUR600m.
For the full year of 2011 the company reported a net profit of EUR5.35bn, or EUR0.59 diluted earnings per share, compared to EUR8.18bn, or EUR0.93 diluted earnings per share, for the same period in 2010.
Revenue rose 5.3% to EUR44.3bn for the full year of 2011 while net interest income increased 5.5% to EUR30.82bn.
Net operating income was EUR24.37bn for the full year of 2011, up 2.2%, compared to EUR23.85bn for the same period in the previous year.
Banco Santander chairman Emilio Botin said that the bank has shown it is able to generate results and, at the same time, meet the capital requirements set out by the EBA, significantly increase provisions for property exposure and maintain shareholder remuneration at EUR 0.60 per share for the third consecutive year.
