Santander shares - worth buying more??

thestens

I have a very small amount of Santander shares, which have jsut given me a dividend cheque of approx £3!! I have also got the option to buy more. What do people think? Is Santander doing well?? Should I take the risk or leave my money safely in the Building Society?? I do have some funds that I will not need for some years so have cash available.

talexuser

My girlfriend has the same small amount of Santander (from Alliance and Leicester in the past I think) with the same scrip offers and payments. I sold mine and advised her to do the same.

To my mind the share price was too volatile due to £/€ fluctuations, and the dividends pulled down by Spanish withholding tax. Is it really worth it for such small beer?

If you hold on for 10 years it might be a good bet, they seem to have survived the crash relatively ok, but Spain is a risk, as is a single share - it could go to zero in the worst case, look at Northern Rock and Bradford/Bingley.

For a small investor willing to take more risk than a Building Soc maybe an ISA with a tracker fund might be a less risky first step as long as you are taking a 5+ year view?

B_Blank

You mean buying shares in the company itself?

If so it depends what % of your money you are risking and whether you need the money and what your attitude to risk is.

Generally the eurozone's woes seem to have been ignored recently in the markets. This probably suggests most european shares are overvalued at the moment, espicially a spainish bank!

But then again nobody knows! I am not expert so take this with a pinch of salt

thestens

Thank you both. Think I will skip at the moment! ISA seems a safer bet!