17 Equity

Shareholders’ equity, with an amount up to €7,250 million (€7,586 million at 31 December 2015) breaks down as follows:

Below is a breakdown of the principal components of Snam’s equity at 30 June 2016.

Share capital

The share capital at 30 June 2016 consisted of 3,500,638,294 shares without nominal value (unchanged from 31 December 2015), with a total value of €3,696,851,994 (unchanged from 31 December 2015).

Legal reserve

The legal reserve at 30 June 2016 stood at €739 million, unchanged from 31 December 2015.

Share premium reserve

The share premium reserve at 30 June 2016 totalled €1,556 million (€1,603 million at 31 December 2015). The decrease of €47 million mainly reflects the use of part of the reserve to pay out the 2015 dividend to shareholders.

Consolidation reserve

The negative consolidation reserve of €1,680 million (€1,701 million at 31 December 2015) includes the value derived from the difference between the acquisition cost of the Italgas and Stogit equity investments (€4,607 million, including the additional transaction expenses and price adjustment following the agreements reached at transaction closing) and the relative equity attributable to the Group on the transaction completion date (€2,004 million and €923 million, respectively, for Italgas and Stogit). The €21 million reduction is related to the correction of the price adjustment in favour of Eni, recognised in 2010 in relation to contractual agreements with Eni at the time of the acquisition of the shareholding in Stogit. The adjustment follows the definitive approval by the Electricity, Gas and Water Authority (the Authority) of the storage tariffs for 2015, the reference tariff year for the purposes of adjusting the contractual price.

Cash flow hedge reserve

The cash flow hedge reserve of -€2 million (compared to -€3 million at 31 December 2015) includes the fair-value measurement of cash flow hedging derivatives relating to a cross currency swap described in Note 8 “Other current and non-current assets”. The changes in the reserve during the course of the year are shown below:

Other reserves

The other reserves of €32 million (€46 million at 31 December 2015) mainly refer to the effects resulting from the valuation of investments using the equity method.

Retained earnings

Retained earnings with a total amount of €2,402 million (€1,987 million at 31 December 2015). The increase of €415 million is mainly due to the allocation of 2015 profit (€413 million).

Reserve for remeasurement of defined-benefit plans for employees

The reserve for remeasurement of employee benefit plans at 30 June 2016 (-€16 million; unchanged at 31 December 2015) included the actuarial losses, net of the relative tax effect, recognised under other components of comprehensive income pursuant to IAS 19.

Dividends

On 27 April 2016, the Ordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of Snam S.p.A. deliberated to distribute an ordinary dividend for 2015 of €0.25 per share; the dividend (€875 million) was paid out as of 23 May 2016, with a fiscal certificate of 23 May 2016 and a record date of 24 May 2016.