Shareholder structure
162
Share capital
Ahold at a glance
Business review
Governance
Ahold
Annual Report 2015
During 2015, Ahold's issued share capital decreased by approximately four million common shares to 818 million common shares. The reasons for this decrease were the nine million shares Ahold acquired, pursuant to the
€500 million share repurchase program, offset by the use of five million treasury shares for the GRO program. The common shares issued decreased by 60 million to 834 million at the end of 2015. The reasons for this
decrease were the cancelation of 60 million shares on July 7 2015.
As of January 3, 2016, there were 16 million shares held in treasury, the majority held by Ahold to cover the equity-based long-term incentive plan for employees.
Ahold's authorized share capital as of January 3, 2016, was comprised of the following:
a 1,171,000,000 common shares at €0.01 par value each
a 329,000,000 cumulative preferred financing shares at €0.01 par value each
a 30,000 cumulative preferred shares at €500 par value each
Shareholders by region2:
Percent
February 2016
February 2015
North America
21.9
20.6
UK Ireland
21.6
22.8
Rest of Europe
7.2
8.1
France
6.6
4.9
The Netherlands1
5.1
7.1
Rest of the world
5.0
3.9
Germany
4.8
3.8
Norway
3.7
2.8
Undisclosed1
24.1
26.0
1 The Netherlands excludes the percentage of shareholdings of all retail holdings and treasury shares, which are included in Undisclosed.
2 Source: CMi2i
For additional information about Ahold's share capital, see Notes 20 and 22 to the consolidated financial statements. Ahold is a public limited liability company registered in the Netherlands with a listing of shares
(symbol: AH) on Euronext's Amsterdam Stock Exchange (AEX).
