The Group’s policy is to pay dividends of 65 per cent of long-term sustainable earnings, calculated with reference to the adjusted diluted earnings per share. Interim dividends are calculated as one-third of the total dividends declared for the previous year.

Dividends are declared and payable in sterling except for those shareholders on the branch register in South Africa, whose dividends are payable in rand. A rate of exchange of £:R = 12.19960 as at 21 February 2012, the closing rate for that day as quoted by Bloomberg, results in an equivalent final dividend of 1078.44464 SA cents per ordinary share.

With the recommended final dividend of 88.4p, the total dividends per share for 2011 are 126.5p, up 11 per cent on the prior year. Under IFRS, the recommended final dividend in respect of a year is only provided in the accounts of the following year. Therefore, the 2011 accounts reflect the 2010 final dividend and the 2011 interim dividend amounting to 119.1p (£2,358 million) in total (2010: 104.8p – £2,093 million). The table below shows the dividends declared in respect of 2011 and 2010.