The value of treasury shares soared by 32.7% to €9,489 million at the end of 2025, as a result of the sharp rise in share prices. The aggregate treasury shares of the 35 companies in the index (AENA is the only one that did not hold any treasury shares) remained stable at around 0.9% of their market capitalisation.
By the Consejeros Editorial Team
Of the 34 IBEX 35 companies holding treasury shares at the end of 2025 (AENA had no treasury shares on its balance sheet), thirteen increased their holdings, eight reduced them and a further thirteen left them unchanged or made only marginal changes. Naturgy was the company with the highest proportion of treasury shares relative to its total market capitalisation, at 4.46 per cent. It was followed by ACS (4.39%), Amadeus (4.35%), IAG (3.43%) and Puig (3.03%).
At the end of last year, IBEX 35 companies held 545 million treasury shares on their balance sheets, representing a fall of 5.6% compared with 2024. However, the rise in the Spanish stock market last year – which saw it lead the major Western stock markets – caused the value of treasury shares to soar by 32.7% to €9,489 million. The aggregate treasury shares of the 35 companies in the index remained stable at around 0.9% of their market capitalisation.
This is set out in the latest report compiled by BME’s Research Department, which notes that the trend already seen in previous financial years – characterised by high levels of share buybacks followed by share cancellations – continues. It is a strategy that companies employ as a form of shareholder remuneration, although the scale of capital reductions carried out was less significant than in other years. (Nevertheless, cash dividends remain the preferred method for listed companies to remunerate their shareholders. In 2025, they distributed €41.503 million, 10.7% more than in 2024 and the second-highest figure on record).
Following the record set in 2024 for share buy-backs and cancellations, the market value of shares cancelled by IBEX 35 companies stood at €11,937 million at the end of last year, representing a fall of 22.3%. Nevertheless, it remains at historically high levels.
In 2025, the financial sector remained the key player, as listed financial institutions spent almost €6.1 billion on buybacks under programmes announced and implemented throughout the year (18.2% more than in 2024) and accounted for around 46% of the market capitalisation of the shares redeemed by IBEX 35 companies. This was followed by the oil and energy sector, with €3,930 million in share buybacks, accounting for 32.9% of the total.
These figures confirm that share buybacks have gained prominence in recent years as a means of shareholder remuneration. Between January 2022 and December 2025, shares worth €54.337 million were cancelled on the Spanish stock exchange, well above the cumulative volume over the previous ten years (€32.000 million).
