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| (in million of €) | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
| IFRS net income group share | 3,606.3 | 2,512.7 | 1,696.4 |
| US GAAP net income group share | 2,683.0 | 1,757.5 | 1,152.9 |
| US GAAP Basic EPS (€ / share) | 2.13 | 1.67 | 1.16 |
| US GAAP Diluted EPS (€ / share) | 2.10 | 1.66 | 1.15 |
| IFRS Shareholders' Equity | 19,503.8 | 16,511.4 | 7,837.5 |
| US GAAP Shareholders' Equity | 23,684.4 | 21,375.8 | 14,992.5 |
1- What are the principal adjustments you have identified in 2006 between your Consolidated Financial Statements prepared in accordance with IFRS and those prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and how did they impact your 2006 U.S. GAAP net income?
The significant adjustments recorded when reconciling our net income determined in accordance with IFRS to the corresponding amounts prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP include:
- The recognition in earnings of an additional charge of €574 million due to amortization of fair value adjustments and goodwill impairment charges relating to a number of significant acquisitions in the past, in particular the acquisition of the additional 48.54% ownership interest in Electrabel in November 2005 through a cash and share bid. Indeed, in absence of specific guidance, we have retained under IFRS the accounting treatment adopted under French GAAP for minority interests acquired. In addition, we have elected to use the exemption not to apply IFRS 3 Business Combinations to business combinations that took place before January 1st, 2004, our transition date to IFRS.
- A decrease of €392 million related to capital gains realized on the sale of certain consolidated investments and equity method investments which result from a difference in the basis of the investment, mainly resulting from differences in purchase price allocation, as well as from the recognition in our income statement of cumulative translation adjustments for U.S. GAAP purposes which for IFRS purposes were, as allowed under IFRS, transferred to our Consolidated reserves within equity on January 1st, 2004.
2- What are the main reasons for having a higher equity under U.S. GAAP?
The merger between Suez and Lyonnaise des Eaux and the combinations financed through the exchange of shares Suez and SGB, Tractebel and Sita resulted under French GAAP in a write-off of goodwill against equity. Due to the election by the Group to use the exemption not to apply IFRS 3, as already mentioned earlier, the transition to IFRS did not materially change the accounting treatment of our major acquisitions carried out before January 1st, 2004. This explains most of the €4.2 billion difference between the shareholders' equity in accordance with IFRS and in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
For a detailed description of the differences between our Group accounting principles under IFRS and under U.S. GAAP and the way they impact the reconciliation of our net income Group share and the shareholders’ equity, we refer to Notes 40 and 41 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in our 20-F.
Download the full version of the 2006 Form 20F (Acrobat - 2.8 Mb)