15. Earnings per share
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Basic earnings per share |
31.4 | 18.8 | 174.3 | |||||||||
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Diluted earnings per share |
31.0 | 18.6 | 172.3 | |||||||||
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Basic earnings per share has been calculated by dividing the profit attributable to shareholders by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period after deducting shares held by the ESOP Trusts and Treasury shares. The trustees have waived their rights to dividends on the shares held by the ESOP Trusts.
Diluted earnings per share has been calculated after adjusting the weighted average number of shares used in the basic calculation to assume the conversion of all potentially dilutive shares. A potentially dilutive share forms part of the employee share schemes where its exercise price is below the average market price of GSK shares during the period and any performance conditions attaching to the scheme have been met at the balance sheet date.
The numbers of shares used in calculating basic and diluted earnings per share are reconciled below.
| 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | ||||||||||
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Weighted average number of shares in issue |
millions | millions | millions | |||||||||
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Basic |
4,886 | 4,860 | 4,831 | |||||||||
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Dilution for share options and awards |
55 | 49 | 57 | |||||||||
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Diluted |
4,941 | 4,909 | 4,888 | |||||||||
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