9. Earnings Per Share

Basic earnings per share are calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the period. The weighted average number of shares excludes shares held by an Employee Benefit Trust (see note 22) and has been adjusted for the issue/purchase of shares during the period.

For diluted earnings per share, the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue is adjusted to assume conversion of all dilutive potential ordinary shares. These represent share options granted to employees where the exercise price is less than the average market price of the Company's ordinary shares during the 52 weeks to 1 April 2016.

The Group has also chosen to present an alternative earnings per share measure, with profit adjusted for non-recurring items because it better reflects the Group's underlying performance.

For the period	52 weeks to 1 April 2016 Number of shares m	53 weeks to 3 April 2015 Number of shares m
Weighted average number of shares in issue	199.1	199.1
Less: shares held by the Employee Benefit Trust (weighted average)	(3.9)	(4.9)
Weighted average number of shares for calculating basic earnings per share	195.2	194.2
Weighted average number of dilutive shares	1.1	3.2
Total number of shares for calculating diluted earnings per share	196.3	197.4

For the period	52 weeks to 1 April 2016 £m	53 weeks to 3 April 2015 £m
Basic earnings attributable to equity shareholders	63.5	65.8
Non-recurring items (see note 5):
Operating expenses	1.7	0.3
Tax on non-recurring items	(0.3)	0.1
Underlying earnings before non-recurring items	64.9	66.2

For the period	52 weeks to 1 April 2016	53 weeks to 3 April 2015
Basic earnings per ordinary share	32.5p	33.8p
Diluted earnings per ordinary share	32.4p	33.3p
Basic earnings per ordinary share before non-recurring items	33.2p	34.1p
Diluted earnings per ordinary share before non-recurring items	33.0p	33.5p