8 Earnings per share

There are no discontinued operations in either the current or prior year.

The calculation of the basic and diluted earnings per share is based on the following data:

  2008 2007
Earnings £m £m
Earnings before taxation 62.3 57.6
Deduct taxation expense per the income statement (17.5) (18.2)
Earnings for the purposes of basic and dilutive earnings per share being    
net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent company 44.8 39.4
Add back current year’s amortisation expense pre tax (see notes 2 and 10) 9.1 4.5
Earnings for the purposes of basic and dilutive earnings per share adjusted for    
amortisation expense being attributable to equity holders of the parent company 53.9 43.9

  2008 2007
Number of shares No. ’000s No. ’000s
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes    
of basic earnings per share 42,108 41,989
Effect of dilutive potential ordinary shares:    
Share options 268 720
Conditional shares not vested 196 239
Weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes    
of diluted earnings per share 42,572 42,948

The average market value of the Company’s shares for the purpose of calculating the dilutive effect of share options and long-term incentive plan shares was based on quoted market prices for the period that the options were outstanding. The weighted average share price for the period was £7.36 (2007: £14.13).

Earnings per share as calculated in accordance with IAS 33, ‘Earnings per Share’ are disclosed below:

  2008 2007
Basic earnings per share 106.3p 93.8p
Diluted earnings per share 105.1p 91.7p
     
Basic and diluted earnings per share adjusted for amortisation expense:    
Basic earnings per share excluding amortisation expense 127.8p 104.5p
Diluted earnings per share excluding amortisation expense 126.4p 102.2p

A total of 1,171,003 share options that could potentially dilute earnings per share in the future were excluded from the above calculations because they were anti-dilutive at 31 December 2008 (2007: 64,000).