Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I would like to welcome you most cordially to the annual general meeting of OMV Aktiengesellschaft, and I am also very happy to welcome you in such large numbers. I would also like to welcome those who watch the AGM via the internet. In my function as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I take over the chair and open today's ordinary AGM of OMV AG. Private photo, video, and voice recordings of this annual general meeting are strictly prohibited. As in the past, the annual general meeting, as of now until the end of the reports of CEO Mr. Seele and CFO Florey, according to number one on the agenda, will be broadcast live on the internet. A recording of the live broadcast on the internet will be available on the OMV website after the annual general meeting.
Furthermore, for purposes of minuting by the notary public and for taking the notary records, the AGM will be tape-recorded. Taking pictures in the room is only reserved to those authorized by OMV. Furthermore, I have the pleasure of informing you that the following members of the Supervisory Board are present today: Deputy Chairman Dr. Tumpel-Gugerell, Deputy Chairman Murtadha Al-Hasmi , Dr. Bernd, Dr. Draxler, Mr. Marc Hall, Ahmed Matar Al Mazrouei, Professor Rose, Dr. Werner, Ms. Elif Bilgi Zapparoli. Representatives of the Works Council, Mr. Baumann, Ms. Asperger, Mr. Lindner, Gerhard Singer, and Mr. Redlich are present here. The members of the Executive Board, CEO Mr. Seele, Mr. Florey, Mr. Pleininger, and member of the board, Mr. Leitner, are also taking part in today's annual general meeting and the Executive Board is completely represented here.
Further participants are Mr. Alexander Vlasto and Ms. Katarina Schrank as the representatives of the external auditor. Furthermore, I would like to welcome those ladies and gentlemen who are taking part as guests, and I would also like to welcome Mr. Christian Mayer as the notary public of this meeting. I ask the notary, Mr. Mayer, to take the minutes and also to notarize the resolutions that are taken here, as well as to monitor the evaluations of the votings. For reasons of flow of language, I will not use gender-specific terms in German. Let me continue with the legal statements and dispositions. I state that the invitation to today's annual general meeting on the 21st of April 2017 in the official Gazette of the Wiener Zeitung was on time and was also done as it is legally provided.
Electronic European dissemination via euro adhoc was also organized on the 21st of April 2017. So as a result, today's annual general meeting has a quorum on the items of the agenda that were communicated. The documents required under Article 108, Stock Corporation Act, have been made available on the website of the company on the 2nd of May 2017. Motions of entitled shareholders to supplement the agenda as well as alternative resolutions were not submitted to the company. The agenda is also contained in your document, and this is why I assume that the agenda is known to you, and I will not read out the agenda. Furthermore, I state, and I can announce to you that 247,312,099 no par value shares were registered for the meeting within the deadline laid down by law.
The presence of today's annual general meeting will be announced no later than the first voting. At this point in time, I will sign the list of participants and put it up for inspection. Let me explain the annual general meeting and the organization of it. Shareholders have the opportunity to exert their voting right via an independent representative, the so-called proxy voting. Early information about the resolutions that will be voted on is necessary, and this is why we published all the resolutions on time on our website. In addition, we offer sign language translation for persons that are hearing impaired. Sign language translation can also be seen in the Internet broadcast. Furthermore, I point out that discussion on all items of the agenda will be summarized in a general debate.
For this reason, the reports and also the proposals for resolutions will be presented en bloc. Afterwards, our shareholders and representatives of shareholders can take the floor on individual items on the agenda. After the general debates, no further discussion is planned. There will be a vote on the proposals. The items on the agenda and the proposals for resolutions can be taken from the shareholders documents. If you as a shareholder request to speak, we ask you to use the forms reserved for that. Should you be in need of any further forms, please contact our staff. Please write down your question on the form and please also state whether you want to ask the question yourselves or whether the question should be read out. Those shareholders who want to ask their questions personally are asked to come up to the speaker's desk.
Please bear in mind that the sequence of questions is random and is not in accordance with the time of submitting the forms. Questions are only admitted if they are relating to the item of today's agenda. I state again that we have proxy voting if you have to leave the annual general meeting early. Forms can be taken when you leave the room. Before we start with today's agenda, let me give you some technical remarks. Between 3:30 P.M. and 6:00 P.M., we invite you for a snack. As in the past years, the parking is free. Exit tickets can be collected at the registration desk and the guest and investor relations desk. If there are any questions or problems, the ladies and gentlemen of the registration desk will be available to you.
We furthermore want to point out that the German version of the presentation will be shown on your left-hand side, and the English version can be taken from the right-hand presentation. If there are any questions or problems, please contact our ladies and gentlemen of the registration desk. Furthermore, I would also like to ask you to switch off your mobile phones or put them in silent mode. Let me proceed with our agenda. Item one of the agenda says as follows, submission of the adopted individual financial statements 2016 and Directors' Report, the Consolidated Corporate Governance Report, the Consolidated Payments to Governments Report, the Consolidated Financial Statements 2016 and Group Directors' Report, the Proposal of the Appropriation of the Profit, and the Report of the Supervisory Board for the fiscal year 2016.
The supervisory board reviewed and approved the statements 2016 and the management report in accordance with Article 96, Paragraph 4, Stock Corporation Act. The annual accounts are thus adopted. The supervisory board also reviewed and approved the consolidated corporate governance report, the consolidated payments to government report. The supervisory board furthermore reviewed the group accounts and the group directors report and accepted them. The audits and reviews by the supervisory board gave no reason for complaint. The supervisory board resolved the report of the supervisory board, which can be taken from the annual report 2016 of the OMV Group. Let me continue with the work of the supervisory board. In 2016, the supervisory board held nine meetings. The four committees of the supervisory board met in 19 meetings. One of the priorities of the supervisory board activities of 2016 were matters of the executive board.
In January 2016, Mr. Florey became new CFO. On the 1st of July 2016, he became the successor of Mr. Davies. In December 2016, Mr. Leitner was reelected as a member of the executive board with the downstream portfolio for a further two years. In today's meeting, the supervisory board renewed the mandates of Mr. Seele and Mr. Pleininger. As you can take from today's press releases, the term of Mr. Seele is extended by two years until the 30th of June 2020 and the term of Mr. Pleininger until the 31st of August 2020. In addition, the supervisory board appointed Mr. Pleininger deputy chairman of the executive board effective as of the 1st of July 2017. On behalf of the supervisory board, I wish the executive board best of success for the coming years.
The supervisory board intensively dealt with measures to restructure the OMV portfolio based on the current strategy. As far as upstream is concerned, we had numerous projects and we discussed numerous projects that resulted in an important contribution to achieve a goal of increasing the reserve replacement rates and the sustainability of our portfolio. What is worth mentioning is the planned asset swap with Gazprom and the sale of the upstream subsidiary in Great Britain. In downstream, we continued restructuring of gas activities, in particular, taking over non-controlling interests in EconGas and the sale of a non-controlling investment in Gas Connect Austria. Downstream oil, we focused on the selling process of OMV Petroleo y Gas. In conclusion, I would like to state that it is important to continuously increase efficiency and effectivity of the work of the supervisory board.
For this reason, we started a comprehensive self-evaluation of the supervisory board at the end of last year. In the meantime, the evaluation was completed. Due to the fact that external advisors carried out the evaluation, we didn't only set new standards in terms of best practice in Austria, it also allowed us to benefit from international experiences to improve internal processes and flows of information. This clearly expresses that we, as a supervisory board, are well aware about our responsibility towards our shareholders. Let us continue with item number 1 and the reports of Mr. Seele. Mr. Seele, you have the floor. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. Welcome to OMV's annual general meeting. For OMV, 2016 was a year full of challenges, but we mastered this year very well. I can proudly report to you today, OMV is sustainably profitable and fit for the future. It is with great commitment and vigor that the OMV Executive Board and the whole workforce of OMV have implemented a wide range of measures in a very intensive and not always easy phase of restructuring and transformation. The success of these measures is impressively demonstrated by our share performance development. In 2016, the price of the OMV share rose by 28%. The closing rate at year-end was more than EUR 33, thus exceeding the ATX performance and other important sectoral indices. When reinvesting the dividend, the value development of the OMV share in 2016 came to as much as 34%.
Yesterday's closing rate of our share arrived at EUR 49 and the market capitalization of OMV at an impressive EUR 16 billion. With this, ladies and gentlemen, OMV is not only the largest but also the most valuable company of Austria. Against this backdrop, it is a great pleasure for me to suggest to the annual general meeting a dividend of EUR 1.20 per share for fiscal 2016. With our new dividend policy, we confirm our claim to offer to our shareholders an attractive and predictable shareholder return. It is our objective to raise the dividend in the future in line with the development of the free cash flow and the annual net profit. The OMV share is an attractive investment and it pays to place trust in OMV's development. For this trust, shareholders, we would like to thank you, we as the Executive Board of OMV.
OMV is fit and on course because we have done our homework. We have optimized our portfolio and implemented key transactions earning us EUR 3 billion for future projects. Let me state here at this point that even this year, a large number of projects and measures are about to be implemented. This means further growth for OMV. Last year, ladies and gentlemen, we faced a fiscal year with an extremely challenging environment, a turbulent, a volatile environment, including geopolitical conflicts and political change, low oil and gas prices, and shrinking refinery margins. Let us remember that the oil price in January 2016 stood at only $26 US per barrel and thus fell to its eight-year low. Only due to the cuts of OPEC output has it stabilized at $55 US at year-end. In the gas markets, there is still oversupply. 2016 was a year of extreme price fluctuations.
Only in the fourth quarter did we see the tension reduced in the situation, and the gas prices recovered. The quite early onset of winter led to a clear rise in demand. Even in the European refinery markets, the overall conditions in 2016 were extremely challenging. We were confronted with extreme competition from Russia and the Middle East due to existing and persisting overcapacity, and the oil price that was recovering in the second half of the year could be passed on only partly to our customers. We responded to these challenges by introducing cost-cutting and efficiency-enhancing measures. The production of oil and gas in 2016 was grown to 311,000 barrels per day. This was the highest level seen in the past five years. Two-thirds of the production came from Romania and Austria.
I am particularly proud of the fact that we increased production. At the same time, cut production cost by 12% from $13.20 to $11.60 per barrel. Just remember, in 2014, that level stood at $16.60 per barrel. This trend for further cost reduction will be continued this year as well. Ladies and gentlemen, this strategy has helped us to massively increase OMV's competitiveness. In times of low oil prices, it is essential to manage costs sufficiently and effectively. In sectoral comparison, we have done an excellent job. As another measure, we cut exploration spending by more than half to EUR 300 million and introduced and implemented a general cost-cutting program worth EUR 200 million. On top of that, CapEx were reduced by 32% to a level of less than EUR 2 billion. These measures have supported our operating business and substantially improved our cash flow.
In 2016, we had a free cash flow after dividends and including proceeds from the sale of the minority stake in Gas Connect Austria of EUR 1.1 billion. We also improved our cash flow from operating activities. As a result, OMV has a sound financial basis because we are consistently implementing our strategy. In the following, I would like to briefly outline the development in our two business areas. OMV's Upstream portfolio was successfully adjusted in 2016. At the same time, we focused on the essential issues. Apart from strict cost management, we focused on those regions where oil and gas reservoirs are large and production costs relatively low. These areas are the Middle East and Russia. Our reserve replacement rate was increased by more than 100%.
In the Upstream business, we rely on a combination of sales, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships in order to put our portfolio on a more sustainable basis. In this context, we closed a very large transaction in the North Sea early in 2017. Close to EUR 1 billion were the proceeds of our 30% share in the Rosebank project and our Upstream subsidiary in the U.K. Planned investment commitments in the North Sea were reduced by no less than EUR 3.7 billion and gave OMV more financial leeway. Together with Russia, we built a new core region in our portfolio. Early in March 2017, we acquired, at a price of EUR 1.75 billion, a 24.99% share in the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field. The closing of this transaction in the course of this year will bring us another 100,000 barrel oil equivalents per day. What does that mean?
OMV this year will become a 420,000-barrel company. Over the midterm, we have even a perspective to grow to 500,000 barrels daily production. This transaction is fully in line with our strategy to markedly cut production costs of OMV. At the end of 2016, we signed a binding basic agreement on an asset swap with Gazprom. In this process, OMV takes another step towards Western Siberia Holding close to 25% in the blocks four and five of the Achimov reservoir in Urengoy. Around 460 million barrel oil equivalents will be received in the process. This is the value of this transaction, increasing reserve positions for OMV. In return, Gazprom takes over a share of 38.5% in our OMV Norge in Norway. Production will start in 2020 and reach a plateau of 80,000 barrels oil equivalent per day. Ladies and gentlemen, this step into Russia is indispensable for OMV.
Intense cooperation with Gazprom makes our group stronger and more competitive. The reserve base of OMV doubles alone in the wake of these two deals from 1 billion to 2 billion barrels. Let me now move to another country with which we have kept a long and strong partnerships over many decades, Libya. We have stood at Libya's sides, even in times of political and military upheavals. Our trusting cooperation with Libyan NOC and our readiness to invest in Libya has paid well for OMV. Our commitment towards the country and our partners was demonstrated in 2016. In Libya, we were able to top up our reserve position. Acquisition of Occidental shares in the Sirte Basin has brought us 52 million of barrels of reserves. At the same time, our production potential was increased from 30,000 to 40,000 barrels per day.
The potential for expansion will come to 50,000 barrels per day due to additional capital expenditure. Iran is another interesting partner for OMV. Therefore, we intensified the exchange with the National Iranian Oil Company. At the moment, we are investigating and evaluating oil fields in the west of Iran. For this purpose, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the NIOC and a joint study agreement about the Fars region. This brings me to our downstream oil business sector. Downstream oil remains our cash generator with a clear focus on capacity utilization in our refineries. As we are quite close, let me say with pride that the Schwechat Refinery counts among the leading refineries in Europe. This is due to our beneficial combined concept with our forward integration into the polymer business. Ladies and gentlemen, our shareholding in Borealis is a gemstone in our portfolio.
In 2016, Borealis attained a record result and has transferred a highly pleasing dividend amounting to EUR 270 million. The focus of portfolio optimization in downstream oil is on our retail business. In the process, we sold our Turkish filling station subsidiary, Petrol Ofisi, at a price of close to EUR 1.5 billion to the Vitol Group. The closing of the transaction is expected for this year. Let me be quite clear here. We could not integrate the company strategically into our group of companies in the past years. This is why the decision to sell, to divest was the right decision to take. We built our budget filling station area in Austria. I am quite happy to see that the integration of Hofer filling station is running on successful tracks.
A logical step to us is the entry into e-mobility with our shareholding of 40% in SMATRICS. This company is the first to offer a fully-fledged high-performance charging network all over Austria. Meanwhile, that SMATRICS charging system includes more than 400 charge point, 49 of them at OMV locations. Several projects were implemented also in our downstream gas business segment. At a price of EUR 600 million, we sold a minority shareholding in Gas Connect Austria. We sold part of our regulated pipeline business without losing control. In return, we see the focus of OMV to be located in the non-regulated gas logistics business. Against this background, and coupled with the fact that Europe's own gas production is on the decline, our commitment at Nord Stream 2 is taking greater shape. This new state-of-the-art gas infrastructure will substantially improve European security of supply.
The pipeline will link the Russian gas fields straight with Europe. To us, Nord Stream 2 is of strategic significance in many respects, primarily due to diversification of gas imports from Russia, expansion of our gas hub at Baumgarten, and also because of the increase of gas transits through Austria. Nord Stream 2 will have a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year. Construction works will start in 2018 and are scheduled to be completed in 2019, commissioning the pipeline. Economically speaking, this investment project is highly attractive. We have signed co-financing scheme up to EUR 950 million. Further European financing partners are French ENGIE, Dutch Shell, German Uniper, and German Wintershall. In the gas sales segment, we also have created the ground for growth with our successful restructuring. The 100% takeover of EconGas shares has helped us.
In 2016, we started a marketing offensive in Northwestern Europe. We rely on the marketing of increasing own gas production and purchased volumes of established partners, including Statoil and Gazprom. Notwithstanding the acute oversupply in Europe, we are gaining market shares. Our new sales office in Düsseldorf sold close to 17 terawatt-hours of gas in 2016, representing a market share in Germany of 2%. Up to 2025, our aim is to achieve 10%. Ladies and gentlemen, a look to the year 2017 makes it quite clear. We will continue this course of success. Strong contributions from upstream and downstream created excellent operating results of EUR 805 million before special effects in the first quarter. Upstream generated 335,000 barrels per day. This is the highest quarterly production in the past 10 years.
Free cash flow after dividends arrived at EUR 1.3 billion, a record high, and all of this against an oil price environment of as little as $54 US per barrel. More details on business development in the first quarter of 2017 and our new dividend policy were presented to you by my colleague, Reinhard Florey. All that I have reported about so proudly has become possible due to the enormous commitment by all of OMV's workforce. I would like to thank all of the employees of OMV on behalf of the entire executive board. Thank you for your agreement, because OMV's employees are doing a great job, a fantastic job. Let me mention one more thing that is important for OMV's business success: partnerships. I'd like to invite you to take a closer look at our newly defined core regions and our current projects.
You will see at a glance that we bank on long and trustworthy partnerships and intensify them. This applies to Russia as it does to Libya, but primarily also to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which has been a core shareholder of OMV since 1994. The successful business syndicate between ÖBIB and International Petroleum Investment Company from Abu Dhabi was renewed in 2016, and we, the management of OMV, are very happy about this fact. The fact that Russia is a very reliable partner is something OMV greatly appreciates. In the coming year, we will celebrate 50 years of our partnership with Gazprom. This is our golden wedding anniversary. Now for the strategic focuses for 2017. They are clearly put on value-adding growth in order to provide our customers in a reasonable manner with oil and gas, innovative energy solutions, and high-grade petrochemical products.
Specifically, for the upstream area, this means growth of value preceding growth of volume. In downstream oil, we will advance the expansion of refinery value chains towards petrochemicals. In downstream gas, OMV will focus on expanding gas sales in Northwestern Europe and better capacity utilization of the infrastructure. Ladies and gentlemen, OMV is a modern, future-oriented company which represents energy. We provide the fuel for the Austrian and European economies. We bring energy to each individual household, and we shape the energy future beyond oil and gas. OMV strategy trusts in the fact that the energy mix of the future will be wider and more diverse. Fossil energy will represent the backbone of global energy supply for a longer term in order to cover the rising demand for energy. Having energy means the future is yours. OMV has its future in its hand.
Thank you very much, Dr. Seele.
May I ask Mr. Florey for your report.
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished shareholders. Allow me to give you the most important financial data of OMV Group on the business year 2016, and allow me to present the results of the first quarter of 2017. Both the group financial statements are drawn up according to IFRS, as well as the individual financial statements are drawn up under local GAAP, received an unqualified auditor's opinion. On behalf of the OMV Group, I would like to thank Ernst & Young for the good cooperation. 2016 was a difficult year for OMV against the background of the lowest average oil prices in 13 years. In spite of that, we achieved future-oriented change of the OMV portfolio and at the same time, we improved our financial stability. Free cash flow after dividends, including changes in non-controlling interests, improved from minus EUR 581 million in 2015 to EUR 1.1 billion in 2016.
In addition, net debt was reduced by 26% from EUR 4 billion in 2015 to EUR 3 billion in 2016. The gearing also went down from 28% in 2015 to 21% in 2016. Special effects in the amount of minus EUR 1.6 billion, are mainly the result of transactions to optimize our portfolio. The largest driver are unscheduled depreciation, which were booked in connection with the divestment of OMV U.K. Limited, including Rosebank and OMV Petrol Ofisi . These divestment activities will allow us to build up financial reserves for current and future activities to improve our portfolio. Let us have a look at the results of the year 2016. In spite of the low oil and gas prices, 17% and 19% respectively, and the lower by 34% refinery margin, CCS operating result before special effects in the amount of EUR 1.5 billion is a quite respectable result.
The CCS operating result, which is a new KPI in 2017, is the CCS EBIT supplemented by the result from at equity investments. In upstream, increased sales volumes, lower exploration costs, and lower depreciations, as well as lower production costs, partly compensated the lower oil and gas prices and resulted in a positive operating result before special effects in the amount of EUR 40 million. The downstream CCS operating result before special effects, in spite of the low refinery margin in downstream oil, was at EUR 1.5 billion, and as a result of the optimization of the operating performance and the improved result in our gas business. The CCS net income attributable to shareholders before special effects was EUR 995 million and was down by 13% as compared to 2015. This results in a CCS earning per share before special effects of EUR 3.05 in 2016.
Ladies and gentlemen, our priority was financial management in 2016 and the development of our cash flow. In spite of a low average Brent price of $44, in 2015 it was $52, we could generate a positive free cash flow even before our divestment activities. Due to the fact that we had lower investments, free cash flow after dividends resulted in an inflow of funds of EUR 650 million. In 2015, we had an outflow of funds of EUR 569 million. The difference of EUR 490 million to free cash flow after dividends, including changes in non-controlling interests in the amount of EUR 1.1 billion, is the result of an inflow of funds after the divestment of our 49 non-controlling interest in Gas Connect.
We had intensive cost-saving measures, this is why the cash flow from operating activities was improved by EUR 40 million as compared to 2015 and amounts to EUR 2.8 billion. This in spite of a challenging marketing environment. Let me continue with the operating result after special effects. At minus EUR 32 million in 2016, we were markedly above the level of 2015, which was minus EUR 1.6 billion. The increased operating performance is reflected in a higher upstream result. The result is higher by EUR 1.3 billion. This is also driven by increased sales volumes, lower exploration costs, lower production costs, and lower depreciation. Of course, we also had negative effects like impairments and lower oil prices. The impairments in the amount of EUR 1.1 billion are markedly lower than last year in the amount of EUR 2.5 billion.
In Downstream, we had a very strong operating result, which is markedly above the previous year of EUR 404 million. The positive development Downstream as well as Upstream is reflected in the net income attributable to shareholders of the parent company, which was improved by EUR 403 million as compared to 2015. The financial result of minus EUR 198 million and the tax result of EUR 47 million is calculated in that. The increased performance, of course, is reflected in the return on average capital employed, the ROACE, which increased by 5% as compared to 2015. A focus in 2016 was our strict cost discipline. This resulted in a reduction of operating costs of EUR 200 million as compared to the previous year. Our goal is to continuously increase our cost efficiency. This was a goal that was pursued in the group, was accompanied by cost reduction measures and several initiatives.
We started in procurement, production, and administrative areas, the cost could be significantly reduced. In order to continue this positive trend, we plan an additional reduction of operating costs of EUR 50 million, which means that it is a reduction of EUR 250 million as compared to the base in 2015. In Upstream, production costs have fell by 12% to $11.60 per barrel. This is the result of cost reduction measures and increased production. The investment volume of EUR 1.7 billion in 2016 could be reduced by 32% as compared to 2015. The most important investments in 2016 were Aasta Hansteen and Gullfaks field developments in Norway, work over and drilling activities in Romania, as well as the Nawara field development in Tunisia. In addition, we reduced exploration expenses by 49% to a level of EUR 307 million, which corresponds to a cost saving of EUR 300 million.
This level of EUR 300 million is also planned to be maintained in future. The next important issue is our dividend policy. As already mentioned by Mr. Seele, the proposed dividend payment is EUR 1.20 per share. Our goal is to have an attractive and foreseeable dividend across the business cycle payable to you as our shareholders. In order to have a stable dividend in the long run, we determined a minimum dividend of EUR 1 unless the sustainable financial health and stability of OMV will be jeopardized. OMV plans to pay out a dividend of EUR 1.20 for 2016 and plans to increase this dividend in correspondence with the free cash flow and the income for the period. We plan a progressive increase, of course, taking into account our needs for further investments and priorities in the framework of strategic capital allocation.
Let us have a look at the first quarter 2017. We had an excellent operating CCS result in the amount of EUR 805 million. Higher prices, higher sales volumes, higher production in Norway and Libya, and lower production costs were responsible for the better Upstream result. Due to stronger refinery and petrochemical margins and a higher Borealis result, Downstream also improved. Net special effects in the first quarter 2017 in the amount of EUR 220 million related to Upstream, and the Upstream amount is EUR 187 million. This is due to foreign exchange gains of EUR 136 million after the divestment of OMV (U.K.) Limited. The CCS net income before effects were attributable to shareholders was EUR 502 million. In the first quarter, EUR 1,674 million. This also is reflected in the CCS earnings per share for the quarter, which is EUR 1.54.
Due to the excellent development of our results Upstream as well as Downstream, as well as the increased dividend payment of Borealis, cash flow from operating activities could be increased by 344 million as compared to the first quarter 2016. In addition, we have a net inflow of funds following the divestment of OMV (U.K.) Limited in the amount of EUR 810 million, which increased the free cash flow after dividends to EUR 1.3 billion. Ladies and gentlemen, may I give the report according to Article 65, Paragraph 3 of Stock Corporation Act. The stock in treasury shares today is 772,575 no-par value shares of the total 327,272,727 no-par value shares of the companies. The share of our stock capital allocated to these shares is 772,571, which amounts to 0.2361% of our treasury shares.
The weighted average price of the shares that were bought back and are held by the company is at EUR 10.98. As we already reported in the last years, since 2007, we have no further buybacks of shares. In particular, in 2016 and since the 31st of December 2016, no treasury shares were either bought or sold. In 2016, 88,455 no-par value shares and in 2017, 51,794 no-par value shares were used to serve long-term incentive plans and matching share plans. Until the AGM of last year, the use of treasury shares were the authorization of the executive board that was decided on the 17th of May 2011.
After that, the authorization given on the 18th of May 2016, the executive board is authorized upon approval of the supervisory board to use treasury shares, and this includes the already held treasury shares, to use them for transfer to employees, executive employees, or members of the board or management or an affiliated company, including the use for transfer in stock transfer programs and long-term incentive plans, including matching shares until the 17th of May 2021. In conclusion, I would like to come back to the positive development of the OMV share price since the beginning of this week. As Mr. Seele already said, the share price developed satisfactorily in 2017. Since the beginning of 2017, we still have an increase in the share price. At the beginning of this week, the OMV price was EUR 50.21, and this is the highest price since 2008.
Market capitalization of OMV increased by EUR 2.4 billion to EUR 11 billion towards year-end 2016, and to date has a capitalization of EUR 16 billion. This makes OMV one of the most valuable companies in the Vienna Stock Exchange. Ladies and gentlemen, you see we have a very positive financial development of OMV and would like to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your trust in OMV. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Florey. I thank both gentlemen for their reports and the entire board for their constructive cooperation. On behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to extend my thanks to the members of the executive board and all workers and employees of OMV for their commitment. In particular, in view of the challenging market environment in 2016, I would like to thank you and give my appreciation for the success we have achieved. I would like to ask you, Dr. Seele, and the representatives of the workforce to pass on our appreciation and thanks to our employees. I would now like to thank our internet audience for their interest and say