| Share premium €m | Own shares held €m |
|||||
| At 1 January 2006 | 381.5 | (1.1) | ||||
| Own shares released on vesting of share awards | – | 0.4 | ||||
| At 31 December 2006 | 381.5 | (0.7) | ||||
| At 1 January 2007 | 381.5 | (0.7) | ||||
| Purchase of own shares | – | (3.0) | ||||
| Own shares released on vesting of share awards | – | 0.2 | ||||
| Exchange movements (net of taxation) | – | 0.2 | ||||
| At 31 December 2007 | 381.5 | (3.3) |
Own shares are held by the Avis Europe Employee Share Trust, a discretionary trust, to partially satisfy options and awards granted under a number of the Group's share schemes.
During the year, the Company increased its investment in its own shares. In the first half of the year, the Company purchased 3,124,452 shares at a cost of 59 pence per share and a further 500,000 shares at a cost of 41 pence per share during the second half of the year. The total consideration paid was £2.1 million (€3.0 million). The Company's own shares have a nominal value of 1 pence per share. At the date of these purchases, the Company held a special resolution to purchase its own shares up to a maximum of 92,052,404 shares (representing 10% of the issued ordinary share capital at 26 February 2007).
At 31 December 2007, the Trust held 3,811,301 shares (2006: 425,449 shares), with a market value of 40.50 pence per share (2006: 81.75 pence per share), which have been recognised as a reduction in shareholders' funds. None of the shares held at the year end are under option to employees, nor have they been conditionally gifted to them. The Avis Europe Employee Share Trust has not waived its right to any dividends on these shares.
