[27] Equity

Subscribed capital and capital reserves

As at 31 December 2019, the Company’s share capital amounted to €118.1 million, which was unchanged on 31 December 2018 and was fully paid up. It was divided into 118.1 million no-par-value shares.

The Annual General Meeting on 11 May 2017 voted to create new authorised capital that will enable the KION Group to continue to meet its funding needs quickly and flexibly. Subject to the consent of the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board is authorised until 10 May 2022 to increase the Company’s share capital by up to €10.879 million by way of an issue of up to 10,879,000 new no-par-value bearer shares (2017 Authorised Capital).

With the consent of the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board of KION Group AG decided on 22 May 2017 to utilise some of the authorised capital created by the 2017 Annual General Meeting. The share capital was increased against cash contributions by issuing 9.3 million new no-par-value bearer shares. The gross proceeds from the capital increase came to €602.9 million. An amount of €593.6 million was paid into the capital reserves.

The total number of shares outstanding as at 31 December 2019 was 117,959,356 no-par-value shares (2018: 117,924,442 no-par-value shares). Between 9 September 2019 and 20 September 2019, a further 60,000 treasury shares (KEEP 2018: 66,000 treasury shares) were repurchased via the stock exchange at an average price of €48.80 (2018: €54.17) in order to provide the shares for employees’ own investments and the free shares under the KEEP 2019 employee share option programme. The total cost was €2.9 million (2018: €3.6 million). In February 2019, a further 13,674 no-par-value shares were issued for employees’ own investments under KEEP 2018. Due to the issue of 14,136 bonus shares under KEEP 2016 (KEEP 2015: 22,580 bonus shares) and 67,104 no-par-value shares (2018: 38,691 no-par-value shares) under KEEP 2019, KION Group AG held 130,644 treasury shares at the reporting date (2018: 165,558). 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 [45]. In February 2020, a further 7,338 no-par-value shares were issued for participants’ own investments under KEEP 2019.

Retained earnings

The changes in retained earnings are shown in the consolidated statement of changes in equity in > TABLE 042. 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 €1.20 per share (2018: €0.99 per share) to the shareholders of KION Group AG resulted in an outflow of funds of €141.5 million in May 2019 (2018: €116.8 million).

Appropriation of profit

KION Group AG’s net profit for 2019 was €156.9 million, of which €3.5 million will be transferred to other revenue reserves. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting to be held on 12 May 2020 that an amount of €153.4 million be appropriated from the distributable profit of €153.5 million for the payment of a dividend of €1.30 per dividend-bearing share. It is also proposed that the remaining sum of €0.2 million be carried forward to the next accounting period. This equates to a dividend payout rate of 33.7 per cent of net income.

Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and non-controlling interests

The overall composition of, and changes in, equity are shown in the consolidated statement of changes in equity in > TABLE 042.

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 [28]).

The gains / losses on hedge reserves are the effective portion of the changes in the fair value of hedging instruments in formally documented hedges. The gains / losses on financial investments relate to the remeasurement of the equity investments in Zhejiang EP Equipment Co., Ltd. and Balyo SA at fair value (FVOCI category under IFRS 9).

The gains / losses from equity-accounted investments contain the share of other comprehensive income (loss) from associates and joint ventures accounted for under the equity method.