Share information Share issues Prior year amounts have, where applicable, been adjusted to place them on a comparable basis with current year am ounts. As as 31 December 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Employee Share Plan Share Plan Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Share Plan/ 1 for 8 Executive Executive Executive Executive Executive Executive rights issue Share Plan Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Share Plan/ Exercise of Exercise of Exercise of Exercise of Exercise of Options/ Options/ Options Options Options Restricted Share Buy Preference Shares -back/ Share Schemes of Buy-Back Arrangement Issue of FUELS Convertible Preference Shares Number of issued ordinary shares  at year end (million) 539.6 539.6 607.3 607.8 608.2 610.4 579.3 583.1 584.7 585.7 Weighted average number  of ordinary shares (million) 553.3 553.4 583.7 605.6 606.1 608.3 612.0 580.9 583.4 584.9 Dividends per ordinary share - ordinary (¢) 23.0 24.0 25.0 25.0 27.0 30.0 30.0 30.0 30.0 30.0 - special (¢) - - - - - 10.0 - - - - Dividends - ordinary ($million) 123.6 129.0 151.3 151.4 163.7 182.7 179.9 174.8 175.0 175.5 - special ($million) - - - - - 61.2 - - - - Number of issued preference shares  at year end (million) - - - - - - 3.5 3.5 3.5 6.0 Dividends per preference share ($) - ordinary  - - - - - - - 5.40 6.57 6.59 - special  - - - - - - - - - 5.00 Dividends ($million) - ordinary ($million) - - - - - - - 18.9 23.0 23.0 - special ($million) - - - - - - - - - 14.3 Earnings per share (¢) 20.0 35.4 35.3 29.1 51.0 80.0 72.9 51.9 52.1 58.6 Return on total operating revenue (%) 14.9 24.4 24.0 17.6 31.0 31.3 28.6 20.9 20.2 21.7 Return on average ordinary equity (%) 7.2 12.6 11.8 9.1 15.5 22.3 19.0 13.1 12.3 13.1 Return on average capital employed (%) 6.1 9.6 8.7 7.1 11.5 16.7 14.1 9.0 8.8 9.4 Net debt/(net debt + equity) (%) 29.7 37.2 36.7 39.8 38.7 27.3 28.0 28.9 22.5 24.4 Net interest cover (times) 5.8 6.2 5.4 4.4 5.2 9.1 9.7 8.1 8.5 9.2 General Number of employees  (excluding contractors) 1,471 1,461 1,615 1,650 1,645 1,631 1,713 1,737 1,700 1,526 Number of shareholders 55,684 55,482 65,459 81,286 81,416 76,457 86,472 85,888 84,327 78,976 Market capitalisation ($million) 2,111 2,741 3,826 2,654 2,516 3,670 3,589 3,509 4,017 4,965 Annual Report 2004 45