6. | EQUITY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6.1 | Share capital | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ordinary shares are classified as equity and the shares are fully paid up. Shares acquired by Blue Label Telecoms for its own employees' equity compensation benefit scheme, as well as the shares procured by the subsidiaries in terms of this scheme, are accounted for as treasury shares in the Group statement of financial position.
The Company acquired 10 575 666 (2022: 1 955 484) shares at an average price of R6.58 (2022: R6.48) on the JSE in order to grant forfeitable shares to employees and Directors as part of the Group's forfeitable share plan. Of the total shares acquired, 9 973 803 (2022: 1 442 247) related to shares awarded to employees of subsidiary companies in terms of the equity-settled forfeitable share plan, which are held as treasury shares and accounted for against share premium. The remaining shares of 601 863 (2022: 513 237) related to shares awarded to employees of associate companies in terms of their cash-settled forfeitable share plan and are not considered to be treasury shares of the Group. The amount paid to acquire the treasury shares was R66.0 million (2022: R9.3 million) and has been deducted from shareholders' equity. Refer to note 5.1 for details on the forfeitable shares. |