Investments in companies over which the Parent exercises significant influence or are jointly controlled are accounted for using the equity method (see Appendix II). The carrying amount of the investment in the associate includes the goodwill and the consolidated statement of comprehensive income includes the share in the results of the associate’s operations. If the associate recognises gains or losses directly in equity, the Group also recognises its share in such items directly in equity.

At each year-end, the existence of indicators of a potential impairment of the investment in the associate is assessed in order to recognise the related impairment loss, where appropriate In order to determine the reasonable amount of the investments in companies whose sole asset consists of property inventories, appraisals were obtained from the same independent valuer that appraised the Group’s inventories. In the case of the other companies, discounted cash flow valuations were performed internally, similar to those described in Note 4.4.