Notes to the consolidated financial statements – analysis of items in the primary statements
25. Share capital
| Allotted, called up and fully paid | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary shares | millions | £m |
| At 31 March 2005 | 3,090 | 309 |
| Issued during the year | 8 | 1 |
| Effect of share consolidation (i) | (378) | – |
| At 31 March 2006 | 2,720 | 310 |
| Issued during the year | 4 | – |
| Repurchased during the year (ii) | (23) | (2) |
| At 31 March 2007 | 2,701 | 308 |
| Issued during the year (iii) | 8 | 1 |
| Repurchased during the year (iv) | (127) | (15) |
| At 31 March 2008 | 2,582 | 294 |
(i) On 29 July 2005, the ordinary share capital was consolidated with 43 new ordinary shares of 11 17⁄43 pence each issued for every 49 existing ordinary shares of 10 pence each cancelled.
(ii) From 20 November 2006 to 22 March 2007, the Company repurchased, and subsequently cancelled, under its share repurchase programme 22,388,381 ordinary shares for aggregate consideration of £169m, including transaction costs. The shares repurchased have a nominal value of £2m and represented approximately 1% of the ordinary shares in issue as at 31 March 2007. The excess of the consideration over the nominal value was charged against retained earnings.
(iii) Included within issued share capital is 3,705,193 ordinary shares that were issued following the conversion of the Company’s B shares to ordinary shares on 28 September 2007.
(iv) From 30 May 2007 to 27 November 2007, the Company repurchased, and subsequently cancelled, under its share repurchase programme 126,817,712 ordinary shares for aggregate consideration of £946m, including transaction costs. The shares repurchased have a nominal value of £15m and represented approximately 5% of the ordinary shares in issue as at 31 March 2008. The excess of the consideration over the nominal value has been charged against retained earnings.
B shares
In June 2005, we issued a Circular to Shareholders, outlining a £2bn return of cash to shareholders by way of a B share scheme. Shareholders were issued one B share (a non-cumulative preference share of 10 pence nominal value per share) for every existing ordinary share they held. Shareholders then had choices in respect of the B shares and the return of cash, details of which were set out in the Circular to Shareholders.
Under the return of cash scheme the holders of B shares who elected not to receive the return of cash immediately could retain their B shares for future repurchase. Under the terms set out in the Circular dated 6 June 2005, a final repurchase offer was made in August 2007 for all outstanding B shares. As a result on 28 September 2007, the Company converted 41,988,387 B shares into 3,705,193 ordinary shares of 11 17⁄43 pence each. Fractions were disregarded and 202,514 B shares were deferred and then subsequently cancelled on 28 January 2008.
Treasury shares
At 31 March 2008, the Company held per the share register 66,696,328 (2007 and 2006: nil) of its own shares. At 31 March 2008 a further 3,960,000 ordinary shares had been repurchased but had yet to be included on the register.
The Company made the following transactions in respect of its own shares during the year ended 31 March 2008:
(i) From 21 June 2007 to 31 March 2008 the Company repurchased, under its share repurchase programme 73,328,706 ordinary shares for aggregate consideration of £570m, including transaction costs. The shares repurchased have a nominal value of £8m and represented approximately 3% of the ordinary shares in issue as at 31 March 2008.
(ii) During the year, 100,000 treasury shares were gifted to a National Grid Employee Share Trust and 2,572,378 treasury shares were re-issued in relation to employee share schemes, in total representing approximately 0.1% of the ordinary shares in issue as at 31 March 2008. The nominal value of these shares was £0.3m and the total proceeds received were £10m.
(iii) During the year the Company made gifts totalling £6m to National Grid Employee Share Trusts, outside of its share repurchase programme, to enable the trustees to make purchases of National Grid plc shares in order to satisfy the requirements of employee share option and reward plans.
The maximum number of treasury shares held during the year was 66,696,328 ordinary shares representing approximately 3% of the ordinary shares in issue as at 31 March 2008 and having a nominal value of £8m. The market value of these shares as at 31 March 2008 was £462m.
Additional information in respect of share capital
| 2008 millions |
2008 £m |
2007 millions |
2007 £m |
2006 millions |
2006 £m |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consideration received in respect of ordinary shares issued during the year | 8 | 23 | 4 | 16 | 8 | 28 |
| Authorised share capital | ||||||
| Ordinary shares (i) | 4,392 | 501 | 4,388 | 500 | 4,388 | 500 |
| Non-cumulative B shares | – | – | 3,150 | 315 | 3,150 | 315 |
| 4,392 | 501 | 7,538 | 815 | 7,538 | 815 |
(i) On 28 September 2007, the Company increased its authorised ordinary share capital by 3,705,183 ordinary shares to 4,391,705,193 ordinary shares of 11 17⁄43 pence each.
For details in respect of share options and reward plans, refer to note 36.