Share
Continued shareholder growth
In the past year, the number of shareholders increased by another 1,262. After we reached an all-time high on 30 June 2008 with 6,911 registered shareholders, the number of shareholders grew even further to 7,100 as at 31 December 2008. The new shareholders also include many employees of Helvetia Group, who were given the opportunity in the 150th anniversary year to buy company shares at an attractive price. In total, the number of employee shareholders rose by 609 to 1,792 at the end of 2008. This brings the employees’ share in the share capital to 1.2 per cent, of which around 0.1 per cent is held by the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Management of Helvetia Group.
The structure of investor groups changed onlyslightly in the reporting year. The structure as at 31 December was as follows:
Shareholders by investors' groups »
Measured against shareholdings, 76.7 per cent (previous year: 77.6 per cent) of the registered shareholders are based in Switzerland and 23.3 per cent (previous year: 22.4 per cent) are based abroad. As far as the important shareholders are concerned, there were no significant changes in the reporting year. As of 31 December 2008, the following important shareholders were registered without any changes with the share register of Helvetia Holding AG:
The purchase of registered Helvetia shares is not subject to any restrictions. Shareholders who purchase the shares in their own name and on their own behalf will be entered in the share register for up to a maximum of 5% of the total number of issued registered shares with voting rights.
General Information on Helvetia Holding
| Nominal value | CHF 0.10 |
| Listing | SIX Swiss Exchange |
| Currency | CHF |
| Security Code at the Swiss Exchange | 1 227 168 |
| Ticker at the Swiss Exchange | HELN |
| Reuters | HELN.S |
| Bloomberg | HELn.vx |
Outstanding bond
| amount | CHF 200 million |
| Interest rate | 3 per cent p.a. |
| Maturity | 5.5.2004 - 5.52010 |
| Security nummer | 1.839.765 |
| Helvetia Group | 2008 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| Consolidated equity (in CHF million) | 2'773.7 | 2'850.6 |
| Consolidated equity per share (in CHF) | 323.2 | 332.1 |
| Group profit for the period per share (in CHF) | 26.9 | 46.7 |
| Return on equity (ROE) | 8.2% | 14.4% |
| Helvetia Holding registered share | ||
| Stock exchange price | ||
| Year-end (in CHF) | 228.9 | 407.0 |
| High for the year (in CHF) | 424.0 | 540.0 |
| Low for the year (in CHF) | 153.0 | 340.0 |
| Market capitalisation at year-end price (in CHF million) | 1'980.6 | 3'521.7 |
| Ratio market capitalisation / consolidated equity | 71% | 124% |
| Ratio market capitalisation / gross premiums | 35% | 64% |
| Number of shareholders as of reporting date | 7'100 | 5'838 |
| Annual dividend per share (in CHF) | 13.50 | 15.00 |
| Dividen yield** | 5.9% | 3.7% |
| P/E ratio** | 8.5 | 8.7 |
| Payout ratio | 51% | 32% |
** Based on year-end price
