Shareholder returns
164
Dividends on cumulative preferred financing shares
Share buyback and capital repayment and reverse stock split
Ahold at a glance
Business review
Governance
Ahold
Annual Report 2015
For the 2014 financial year, a cash dividend of €0.48 per common share was approved by the annual General Meeting of Shareholders on April 15, 2015, and paid on April 30, 2015.
The announced common dividend of €0.52 for the financial year 2015 is up 8% from last year and will be proposed to shareholders at the annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on April 19, 2016. The payout
ratio of 49% is within our dividend policy range of 40-50% of adjusted income from continuing operations.
Shareholders KPIs 2011-2015
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
Dividend per common share
0.52*
0.48
0.47
0.44
0.40
Dividend yield
2.7%
3.3%
3.6%
4.3%
3.8%
Payout ratio
49%
51%
51%
50%
47%
Total shareholder return
41.1%
6.4%
35.8%
13.8%
(5.4)%
*Subject to the approval of t
l General Meeting of Shareholders
Ahold paid an annual dividend on cumulative preferred financing shares in 2015 and plans to pay dividends on these shares in 2016 as required by the terms of the shares.
On February 26, 2015, Ahold announced its decision to return €500 million to its shareholders by way of a share buyback program, to be completed over a 12-month period. Under this program, 8,795,407 of the
Company's own shares were repurchased in 2015. Shares were repurchased at an average price of €18.32 per share for a total amount of €161 million. As a result of the announcement that Ahold intends to merge
with Delhaize, the share buyback program was terminated and approximately €1 billion will be returned to shareholders via a capital return and reverse stock split subject to the conditions as explained in Note 35.
On December 12, 2014, Ahold completed its share buyback program initially announced as €500 million on February 28, 2013, and subsequently increased to €2 billion on June 4, 2013. Under this program,
153,494,149 of the Company's own shares were repurchased in 2013 and 2014 (2013: 61,008,851 and 2014: 92,485,298) for a total consideration of €2 billion (2013: €768 million and 2014: €1,232 million),
at an average price of €13.03 (2013: €12.58 and 2014: €13.32).
On January 21, 2014, a capital repayment and reverse stock split was approved at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders. On March 28, 2014, the reverse stock split became effective. Every 13 existing shares
with a nominal value of €0.30 each were consolidated into 12 new shares with a nominal value of €0.01 each. The capital repayment of €1.14 per remaining share, €1,007 million in the aggregate (excluding transaction
costs), took place on April 3, 2014. The capital reduction attributable to treasury shares, which was €109 million in the aggregate, is reported in Other reserves.
Of the total shares repurchased, 60,000,000 were canceled on July 7 2015, and 85,000,000 were canceled on June 20, 2014.
