Changes in equity

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in € millions

Sub-
scribed share capital

Addi-
tional
paid-in capital

Cashflow hedge reserve

Cumu-
lative
trans-
lation reserves

Other (legal) reserves and undis-
tributed profit

Share-
holders’
equity

Non-control-
ling interests

Group equity

Balance at December 31, 2017

505

769

15

(549)

5,125

5,865

442

6,307

Impact adoption IFRS 9

–

–

–

–

(3)

(3)

-

(3)

Impact adoption IFRS 15

–

–

–

–

(48)

(48)

(5)

(53)

Impact application IAS 29

–

–

–

23

–

23

–

23

Balance at January 1, 2018

505

769

15

(526)

5,074

5,837

437

6,274

Profit for the period

–

–

–

–

6,674

6,674

55

6,729

Other comprehensive income

–

–

(15)

(82)

1

(96)

(11)

(107)

Comprehensive income for the period

–

–

(15)

(82)

6,675

6,578

44

6,622

Dividend

5

191

–

–

(586)

(390)

(57)

(447)

Equity-settled transactions

–

–

–

–

32

32

–

32

Issue of common shares

2

(2)

–

–

–

–

–

–

Acquisitions and divestments

–

–

–

–

(223)

(223)

(220)

(443)

Balance at December 31, 2018

512

958

–

(608)

10,972

11,834

204

12,038

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balance at December 31, 2018

512

958

–

(608)

10,972

11,834

204

12,038

Profit for the period

–

–

–

–

539

539

38

577

Other comprehensive income

–

–

–

139

(225)

(86)

(1)

(87)

Comprehensive income for the period

–

–

–

139

314

453

37

490

Dividend

–

–

–

–

(1,423)

(1,423)

(23)

(1,446)

Share buyback

(14)

–

–

–

(2,520)

(2,534)

–

(2,534)

Capital repayment and share consolidation

(399)

(957)

–

–

(644)

(2,000)

–

(2,000)

Equity-settled transactions

–

–

–

–

20

20

–

20

Issue of common shares

1

(1)

–

–

–

–

–

–

Balance at December 31, 2019

100

–

–

(469)

6,719

6,350

218

6,568

Shareholders' equity

Shareholders' equity decreased from €11.8 billion at year-end 2018 to €6.4 billion at the end of December, 2019, due to the net effect of:

  • Share repurchase of €2.5 billion
  • Capital repayment and share consolidation of €2.0 billion
  • Special cash dividend of €1.0 billion
  • Profit for the period of €539 million
  • Final 2018 dividend of €315 million
  • Interim 2019 dividend of €82 million
  • Currency effects of €139 million positive (including taxes)
  • Actuarial losses of €225 million (including taxes)

Dividend

Our dividend policy is to pay a stable to rising dividend. The final 2018 dividend of €1.43 per consolidated share was approved by the AGM in April 2019 and was paid to our shareholders. The total 2018 dividend amounted to €1.80 per share (2017: €2.50, including €0.85 related to the Specialty Chemicals business).

In 2019, an interim dividend of €0.41 (2018: €0.37) per share was paid.We propose a 2019 final dividend of €1.49 (2018: €1.43) per share. Please refer to the Financial calendar for dividend payment dates.

In line with our announcement on April 19, 2017, we have returned the vast majority of the net proceeds from the separation of the Specialty Chemicals business to our shareholders:

  • The Extraordinary General Meeting of November 13, 2018, approved to return an amount of €2.0 billion to shareholders by means of a capital repayment and share consolidation, which was executed in January 2019. A share consolidation ratio of 9:8 was applied
  • We distributed €1.0 billion by means of a special cash dividend of €4.50 per common share (post consolidation) on February 25, 2019, in addition to the €1.0 billion special cash dividend already distributed in December 2017
  • The share buyback program to repurchase common shares up to the value of €2.5 billion was completed at the end of 2019, acquiring 31.2 million common shares.

On October 23, 2019, a new €500 million share buyback program was announced, of which 0.4 million common shares were bought back in Q4 2019.

Outstanding share capital

The outstanding share capital was 199.6 million common shares at the end of December 2019. This included 3.2 million shares acquired in the share buyback program, which had not yet been cancelled. The weighted average number of shares in Q4 2019 was 198.5 million. This number of shares was the basis for the calculation of earnings per share in Q4 2019.