17 Shareholders' equity

Shareholders’ equity, which amounts to €6,100 million (€6,497 million at 31 December 2016) breaks down as follows:

Below is a breakdown of the main components of Snam’s shareholders’ equity at 30 June 2017.

Share capital

The share capital at 30 June 2017 consisted of 3,500,638,294 shares without nominal value (unchanged from 31 December 2016), with a total value of €2,735,670,475.56 (unchanged from 31 December 2016).

Share premium reserve

The share premium reserve at 30 June 2017 totalled €1,140 million (unchanged from 31 December 2016).

Legal reserve

The legal reserve stood at €547 million at 30 June 2017 (unchanged from 31 December 2016).

Reserve for fair value of cash flow hedging derivatives

The cash flow hedge reserve (-€2 million, unchanged from 31 December 2016) includes the fair-value measurement of cash flow hedging derivatives relating to a cross-currency swap (CCS) and to an Interest Rate Swap (IRS), described in Note 8 “Other current and non-current assets”.

Reserve for re-measurement of defined-benefit plans for employees

At 30 June 2017, the reserve for re-measurement of employee benefit plans of €7 million (unchanged from 31 December 2016) included actuarial losses, net of the relative tax effect, recognised under other components of comprehensive income pursuant to IAS 19.

Consolidation reserve

The negative consolidation reserve of €674 million (unchanged from 31 December 2016) includes the value derived from the difference between the acquisition cost of the Stogit equity investments (€1,597 million, including the additional transaction expenses and price adjustment following the agreements reached at transaction closing) and the shareholders’ equity attributable to the Group on the transaction completion date (€923 million).

Other reserves

Other reserves of €54 million (€35 million at 31 December 2016) mainly refer to the valuation of the equity component (€17 million) of the convertible bond loan for a nominal value of €400 million and to the effects of the valuation of the investments using the equity method.

Retained earnings

Retained earnings totalled €2,112 million (€1,969 million at 31 December 2016). The increase of €143 million was due to the allocation of 2016 residual profit.

Negative reserve for treasury shares in the portfolio

The negative reserve includes the purchase cost of 83,959,951 treasury shares in the portfolio at 30 June 2017 (29,905,180 shares at 31 December 2016), equal to €310 million (€108 million at 31 December 2016).

Dividends

On 11 April 2017 the Ordinary Shareholders’ Meeting of Snam S.p.A. authorised the distribution of the 2016 ordinary dividend of €0.21 per share. The dividend (€718 million) will be paid from 24 May 2017, with an ex-dividend date of 22 May 2017 and a record date of 23 May 2017.