User account menu Search Menu Home Investors Shareholder Information Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions Financial ESG Novartis shares ADR Shareholders Where can I learn more about Novartis financial results? Our Financial Data section provides links to: Annual Results and Quarterly Results, including a five-years results archive Novartis SEC Filings The Novartis Annual Reporting Suite Latest Top 20 Product Sales Fixed-Income Securities information And monthly information about the Expected Currency Impact on our results Upcoming releases and more events are listed in our Event Calendar. How do you calculate your earning per share? Basic earnings per share (EPS) is calculated by dividing net income attributable to shareholders of Novartis AG by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in a reporting period. This calculation excludes the average number of issued shares purchased by the Group and held as treasury shares. For diluted EPS, the weighted average number of shares outstanding is adjusted to assume the vesting of all restricted shares, restricted share units, and the conversion of all potentially dilutive shares arising from options on Novartis shares that have been issued. No options were excluded from the calculation of diluted EPS in 2020, 2019 or 2018, as all options were dilutive in all years. Per-share information 2020 2019 2018 Net income attributable to shareholders of Novartis AG (USD millions) - Continuing operations 8 072 7 412 12 797 - Discontinued operations 4 590 -186 Total 8 072 11 732 12 611 Number of shares (in millions) Weighted average number of shares outstanding used in basic earnings per share 2 277 2 291 2 319 Adjustment for vesting of restricted shares, restricted share units and dilutive shares from options 19 28 25 Weighted average number of shares in diluted earnings per share 2 296 2 319 2 344 Basic earnings per share (USD) - Continuing operations 3.55 3.12 5.52 - Discontinued operations 2.00 -0.08 Total 3.55 5.12 5.44 Diluted earnings per share (USD) - Continuing operations 3.52 3.08 5.46 - Discontinued operations 1.98 -0.08 Total 3.52 5.06 5.38 Are there any limitations on voting rights for registered shareholders? The Company’s Articles of Incorporation state that no person or entity shall be registered with the right to vote for more than 2% of the share capital, as set forth in the commercial register. In particular cases, the Board of Directors may allow exemptions from the limitation for registration in the Novartis Share Register. According to the Novartis Share Register, shareholders who owned 2% or more of the Company’s capital at December 31, 2020, and were entitled to voting rights on all of their shares, excluding treasury shares held by Novartis AG or its fully owned subsidiaries, were as follows: % holding of share capital Dec 31, 2020 % holding of share capital Dec 31, 2019 Emasan AG, Basel 3.6 3.5 UBS Fund Management (Switzerland) AG, Basel 2.3 2.1 Credit Suisse Funds AG, Zurich 2.0 <2.0 Novartis Foundation for Employee Participation, Basel <2.0 2.1 What is the exposure to exchange rate risk for Novartis? We transact our business in many currencies other than the US dollar, our reporting currency. The following provides an overview of net sales and operating expenses for our continuing operations based on IFRS values for 2020 and 2019, for currencies most important to the Group: Currency 2020 % 2019 % US dollar (USD) Net sales 36 37 Operating expenses 34 36 Euro (EUR) Net sales 29 28 Operating expenses 27 26 Swiss franc (CHF) Net sales 2 2 Operating expenses 18 16 Japanese yen (JPY) Net sales 6 6 Operating expenses 3 3 Chinese yuan (CNY) Net sales 5 5 Operating expenses 3 4 Canadian dollar (CAD) Net sales 3 3 Operating expenses 1 2 British pound (GBP) Net sales 2 2 Operating expenses 3 2 Brazilian real (BRL) Net sales 2 2 Operating expenses 1 1 Russian ruble (RUB) Net sales 2 2 Operating expenses 1 1 Australian dollar (AUD) Net sales 1 1 Operating expenses 1 1 Other currencies Net sales 12 12 Operating expenses 8 8 Operating expenses in the above table include cost of goods sold, selling, general and administration, research and development, other income and other expense. We prepare our consolidated financial statements in US dollars. As a result, fluctuations in the exchange rates between the US dollar and other currencies can have a significant effect on both the Group’s results of operations as well as the reported value of our assets, liabilities and cash flows. This in turn may significantly affect reported earnings (both positively and negatively) and the comparability of period-to-period results of operations. For purposes of our consolidated balance sheets, we translate assets and liabilities denominated in other currencies into US dollars at the prevailing market exchange rates as of the relevant balance sheet date. For purposes of the Group’s consolidated income and cash flow statements, revenue, expense and cash flow items in local currencies are translated into US dollars at average exchange rates prevailing during the relevant period. As a result, even if the amounts or values of these items remain unchanged in the respective local currency, changes in exchange rates have an impact on the amounts or values of these items in our consolidated financial statements. Because our expenditure in Swiss francs is significantly higher than our revenue in Swiss francs, volatility in the value of the Swiss franc can have a significant impact on the reported value of our earnings, assets and liabilities, and the timing and extent of such volatility can be difficult to predict. There is also a risk that certain countries could devalue their currency. If this occurs, it could impact the effective prices we would be able to charge for our products and also have an adverse impact on both our consolidated income statement and balance sheet. 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