Group financial review continued
Earnings and dividend per share
Overview
Business review Governance
Financials
Investors
Ahold Delhaize Annual Report 2016
0.85
0.95
1.17
1.11
0.57
0.52
0.48
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Income from continuing operations per
common share (basic) was €0.81, a decrease of
€0.23 or 22.1% compared to 2015. This decrease
was driven by lower income from continuing
operations, which declined by 2.2%, and an
increase in weighted average number of
common shares (from 820 million in 2015 to
1,022 million in 2016) as a result of:
(i) the merger with the Delhaize Group; on
completion of the merger 496 million ordinary
shares were issued, partly offset by:
(ii) the shares repurchased in 2015 under
the €500 million share buyback program.
The total number of shares repurchased was
8.8 million. The program was suspended at
the end of June 2015 in connection with the
intended merger of Ahold and Delhaize.
(iii) the €1 billion capital repayment and reverse
stock split transaction in 2016 resulting in a
reduction of 49 million shares.
The increase in the weighted average number
of common shares also increased by shares
that were issued under employee share-based
compensation programs.
Pro forma income from continuing operations
per common share (basic) was €0.85 cent, a
decrease of €0.10 cent or 10.5% compared
to 2015. This decrease was driven by lower
income from continuing operations, which
declined by €124 million.
The weighted average number of shares
used for calculating the pro forma basic and
underlying income from continuing operations
per share is 1,272 million (the number of shares
outstanding at the merger date).
Our dividend policy is to target a payout
ratio in the range of 40-50% of underlying
income from continuing operations (on a
pro forma basis). This was changed from
a payout ratio of adjusted income from
continuing operations to better align with our
key metrics. As part of our dividend policy,
we adjust income from continuing operations
for impairments of non-current assets, gains
and losses on the sale of assets, restructuring
and related charges, and other unusual items.
Pro forma underlying income from continuing
operations amounted to €1,486 million and
€1,410 million in 2016 and 2015, respectively,
and was determined as follows:
Income from continuing operations
per common share (basic)
1 Unusual items in net financial expense consists mainly of the one-off finance cost of €243 million relating to the buying
back the JPY 33,000 million notes, see Note 21 to the consolidated financial statements.
Reflecting the confidence we have in our strategy and our ability to generate cash, we propose
a common stock dividend of €0.57 for the financial year 2016, up 9.6% from last year. It represents
a payout ratio of 48%, based on the expected dividend payment on pro forma underlying
income from continuing operations, which is in line with our dividend policy.
Dividend per common share
(2016 includes proposed dividend)
1.04
111111111
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
74
4
246
246
(162)
1,486
million
Income from continuing operations
Adjusted for:
Impairments
(Gains) losses on the sale of assets
Restructuring and related charges and other items
Unusual items in net financial expense1
Tax effect of unusual items
Underlying income from continuing operations
Income from continuing operations per share
attributable to common shareholders
Underlying income from continuing operations per share
attributable to common shareholders
Pro forma 2016
1,078
68
(5)
193
43
(91)
1,410
Pro forma 2015
1,202
62
