[28] Equity

As at 31 December 2016, the Company’s share capital amounted to €108.8 million (31 December 2015: €98.9 million) and was fully paid up. It was divided into 108.8 million no-par-value shares (31 December 2015: 98.9 million).

With the consent of the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board of KION GROUP AG decided on 18 July 2016 to fully utilise the authorised capital that had existed since the 2014 Annual General Meeting. This capital increase was to be used to partly finance the acquisition of Dematic. The Company’s share capital was increased by 10.0 per cent in return for cash contributions; shareholders’ pre-emption rights were disapplied. The share capital was increased by issuing 9.89 million new no-par-value bearer shares. An amount of €449.4 million was paid into the capital reserves. The capital increase was entered in the commercial register on 20 July 2016.

The costs associated with the capital increase amounting to €2.0 million (net) were recognised directly in equity.

The total number of shares outstanding as at 31 December 2016 was 108,625,514 no-par-value shares (31 December 2015: 98,739,950 no-par-value shares). Between 12 September 2016 and 27 September 2016, a further 50,000 treasury shares were repurchased via the stock exchange at an average price of €55.54 in order to provide the shares for employees’ own investments and the free shares under the KEEP 2016 employee share option programme. The total cost was €2.8 million. Due to the issue of 45,564 no-par-value shares (2015: 73,512 no-par-value shares) under KEEP 2016, KION GROUP AG held 164,486 treasury shares at the reporting date (31 December 2015: 160,050). These treasury shares are not dividend-bearing and do not confer any voting rights. Further details on the KEEP employee share option programme can be found in note [44].

As at 31 December 2016, KION Group employees held options on a total of 67,106 no-par-value shares (31 December 2015: 53,220 no-par-value shares). The share options granted under the employee share option programme are not dividend-bearing and do not confer any voting rights.

The changes in retained earnings are shown in the consolidated statement of changes in equity in > TABLE 043. The retained earnings comprise the net income (loss) for the financial year and past contributions to earnings by the consolidated entities, provided they have not been distributed.

The distribution of a dividend of €0.77 per share (2015: €0.55 per share) to the shareholders of KION GROUP AG resulted in an outflow of funds of €76.0 million in 2016 (2015: €54.3 million).

The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose to the Annual General Meeting to be held on 11 May 2017 that an amount of €86.9 million be appropriated from the distributable profit of KION GROUP AG for the 2016 financial year of €129.2 million for the payment of a dividend of €0.80 per dividend-bearing share. It is also proposed that a further sum of €42.3 million be transferred to other revenue reserves and that €0.1 million be carried forward to the next accounting period. Roughly 35 per cent of the net income accruing to the KION Group shareholders will therefore be distributed in dividends.

The breakdown of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) is shown in > TABLE 043.

The currency translation adjustment contains the exchange differences arising from the financial statements prepared in a foreign currency of foreign subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures.

The gains / losses on the defined benefit obligation are the result of remeasuring defined benefit pension obligations (see also note [29]).

The gains / losses on hedge reserves are the effective portion of the changes in the fair value of the hedging instruments for cash flow hedges and net investment hedges. The gains / losses from equity investments contain the share of other comprehensive income (loss) from associates and joint ventures accounted for under the equity method.

Non-controlling interests in companies in the KION Group amounted to €5.7 million (31 December 2015: €7.7 million).