Shareholders equity 

Total shareholders’ equity consists of the share capital, the share premium account, the fair value and other reserves, translation differences, the paid-up unrestricted equity reserve and retained earnings. When the options are exercised, the impacts of changes in the share capital, which exceeds the accounting par value of the shares, are included in the paid-up unrestricted equity reserve. The fair value and other reserves include changes in the fair value of cash flow hedges. Translation differences arising from the application of the purchase method on the translation of the net investment in foreign subsidiaries and associated companies are recorded under translation
differences. Exchange rate differences resulting from derivatives and loans intended as hedges on assets and liabilities in foreign subsidiaries are also entered in translation differences. The purchase price of own shares purchased by KONE Group companies is deducted from retained earnings. The net income for the accounting period is booked directly in retained earnings.

Shares and share capital

At the end of the 2008 financial year the number of shares outstanding was 257,436,922. The share capital was EUR 64,4 million and the total number of votes was 60,037,613. Each class A share is assigned one vote, as is each block of 10 class B shares, with the provision that each shareholder is entitled to at least one vote. At the end of the financial year, the Board of Directors of the company had no valid authorization to increase the share capital or to issue stock options.

In accordance with the Articles of Association, class B shares are preferred for a dividend, which is at least 1 percent and no more than 2.5 percent higher than the dividend paid to the holders of class A shares, calculated based on the amount obtained by dividing the share capital entered into the Trade Register by the number of shares entered into the Trade Register.