Since 1992, Marel’s shares have been listed on the Nasdaq Iceland stock exchange under the symbol MARL.

Marel’s share price stood at ISK 243.00 at the end of 2016, compared to ISK 253.50 at the end of 2015, a decrease of 4.1%. In euros, the shares stood at €2.04 per share at year-end compared to €1.79 at the end of 2015.

As recorded in the shareholders’ register, there were 1,907 Marel shareholders at year-end 2016, compared to 1,986 at year-end 2015. As of December 31, 2016, Marel held 21,543,150 treasury shares.

Eyrir Invest hf. is Marel’s largest shareholder, with 29.3% of issued shares (as of December 31, 2016), followed by Lifeyrissjodur verzlunarmanna – The Pension Fund of Commerce (9.1%) and Gildi pension fund (7.0%).

The ten largest shareholders held 69.3% of the total issued shares. In total, Icelandic pension funds held 38.0% of Marel’s issued share capital. International shareholders owned 3.2% at year-end 2016. The free float of Marel shares was 71% and free float adjusted market value of the company was €1.1 billion.

on February 20, 2017 Eyrir invest sold 15 million shares in to MSD Partners, L.P. After this transaction Eyrir invest  is still Marel's largest shareholder with 27.2% of issued shares. 

SHARE CAPITAL

At year-end 2016, there were 735.6 million Marel shares issued, all in one class. Of these, Marel holds 21.5 million treasury shares. 

During the year 2016, Marel purchased 4.0 million shares for €8.1 million to fulfill future stock option obligations and sold 2.6 million treasury shares for a total amount of €2.7 million to fulfill the employees’ stock option schedules. In connection with the acquisition of MPS, Marel sold 10.8 million treasury shares for €16.3 million to the previous owners of MPS.

Stock options are granted to management and selected key employees. At the end of 2016 there were 8.8 million shares granted and unexercised stock options, of which 1.8 million were exercisable at the end of 2016. The remainder will become vested in the years 2017 to 2021.

At the company’s 2014 Annual General Meeting, the shareholders authorized the Board of Directors to increase the company’s share capital by 35 million shares to fulfill stock option agreements. This authorization is valid for five years following its adoption. No new shares according to this resolution were issued at the end of 2016.

Marel has made agreements with Landsbankinn hf. and Kvika banki hf. regarding market making for the issued shares of Marel. The purpose of the agreements is to improve liquidity and to enhance transparent price formation of the company’s shares on Nasdaq Iceland. The duration of these agreements is unspecified but they can be terminated with one month’s notice.

Shares in Marel were traded 2,654 times in 2016 for a total market value of ISK 70.3 billion (up from ISK 61.1 billion in 2015), which corresponds to a turnover rate of 40%.

This gives Marel the second highest turnover on the Nasdaq Iceland exchange in 2016. Marel’s average end-of-day spread was 0.98%. The market value of the company at year-end 2016 was ISK 178.7 billion (€1.5 billion) compared to ISK 186.4 billion (€1.3 billion) at year end 2015, a decrease of ISK 7.7 billion (an increase in euros of €182.2 million). Since the company’s shares are traded in ISK, fluctuations of the Icelandic krona during 2016 affected the market value when converted it into euros.

The Board of Directors proposes that a dividend of 2.14 euro cents per share will be paid for the operational year 2016. The estimated total dividend payment, based on current outstanding shares, will be 15.3 million corresponding to approximately 20% of profits for the year. The proposed dividend is in line with Marel’s targeted capital allocation and dividend policy. This is in line with the dividend policy of 20-40% of net results and the targeted capital structure of x2-3 net debt/EBITDA.