Savills plc - Investor relations

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTSyear ended 31 December 2003Holiday &19. Provisions for liabilities & charges Claims long service Other TotalGroup £'000 £'000 £’000 £'000At 1 January 2003 1,036 4,182 360 5,578Transfer from accruals 125 - 3,892 4,017Provided during the year 1,719 1,278 - 2,997Utilised during the year (991) (1,713) - (2,704)Aquisitions - 53 - 53Exchange movements 90 275 - 365At 31 December 2003 1,979 4,075 4,252 10,306Claims include professional indemnity insurance provisions and SURMIA as detailed in Note 23. The holiday and long service provision relates to companies in Hong Kong, Australia and the Netherlands and areexpected to crystallise within four to five years of the balance sheet date. Other provisions include amounts for the employee related obligations expected to crystallise within five years.31 December 2003 31 December 2002 31 December 2003 31 December 200220. Share capital - Group & Company No. shares No. shares £'000 £'000Ordinary shares of 5p each:Authorised 101,000,000 101,000,000 5,050 5,050Allotted, called up & fully paid 61,396,903 63,179,932 3,070 3,159During the year, within the 5% limit authorised by shareholders at the 2003 Annual General Meeting, the Company bought back 3.5% of its alloted share capital in order to improve the efficiency of the Group’scapital structure. This amounted to 2,130,000 shares at an average price of 198.1p each (excluding expenses) at a total cost of £4,256,000. The nominal value of the shares purchased (£107,000) has beencredited to the capital redemption reserve (see note 21).Movement in allotted, called up & fully paid share capitalNo. shares£'000At 1 January 2003 63,179,932 3,159Allotted to employees under the Savills plc United Kingdom Executive Share Option Scheme 28,000 2Allotted direct to participants on exercise of options under the Savills Sharesave Scheme 165,087 8Allotted to Savills QUEST Trustees Limited, the trustee of the Qualifying Employee Share Trust 153,884 8Repurchased for cancellation (2,130,000) (107)At 31 December 2003 61,396,903 3,070(a) During the year 28,000 ordinary shares of 5p each (2002 - 88,530) were allotted to employees under the Savills plc United Kingdom Executive Share Option Scheme (the Scheme), for a total consideration of£17,600 (2002 - £36,857). The total aggregate nominal value was £1,400 (2002 - £4,427).The following share options have been granted under the Scheme and were outstanding at 31 December 2003:No. shares No.sharesExercise '000 ‘000Exercise period price 31 December 2003 31 December 20027 years from 13 August 1996 56p - 207 years from 22 August 1997 80p 18 2618 4666