Frequently asked questions

Novartis shares are listed and traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (Valor No. 001200526, ISIN CH0012005267, symbol: NOVN.VX) as well as on the NYSE in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADS) (Valor No. 567514, ISIN US66987V1098, symbol: NVS).

ADR stands for American Depositary Receipt. ADS stands for American Depositary Share. An ADR is a receipt for a number of shares of a foreign-based corporation held in the vault of a US bank, entitling the shareholder to all dividends and capital gains.

Key Novartis share data

(calculated on average number of shares outstanding)

1. Approximately 175 million treasury shares (2011: 181 million) are held in entities that limit their availability for use.

Key data on US American Depositary Shares (ADS) issued in the US

1. The depositary, JP Morgan Chase Bank, holds one Novartis AG share for every American Depositary Share (ADS) issued.

You may use the interactive stock chart tool under our share information section to find the closing share price on a specific day.

For residents of Switzerland you can deposit them through SIX SAG.

The Annual General Meeting took place on February 22, 2013 in Basel, Switzerland.

The dividend payment date has been set for March 1, 2013.

The Novartis dividend has increased steadily since 1996.

The Board of Directors proposed a 2.2% increase in the dividend payment for 2012 to CHF 2.30 per share (2011: CHF 2.25), and this was approved at the Annual General Meeting on February 22, 2013. This represented the 16th consecutive increase in the dividend paid per share since the creation of Novartis in December 1996.

A summary in German of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2012 is available on the AGM page of our investor relations section.

Novartis uses the 12-month calendar year, ending December 31, as its fiscal year.

You can review quarterly and full-year historical financial information in the
sales and results or presentations and events sections.

The Novartis Group ("Group" or "Novartis") consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with the historical cost convention and comply with the standards formulated by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and its predecessor organization, the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), and the following significant accounting policies. The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. In our quarterly earnings statements, we provide information to reconcile IAS (international) to GAAP (US) for key financial measures.

You will find detailed information about the 2012 Annual Report in our Annual Report page.

You will find past annual reports in the order and download center of our newsroom.

Because Novartis is a Swiss firm, we do not file some SEC documents (e.g., Forms 10-K and 10-Q). Instead, our results are reported to the SEC in the Form 20-F. View or download the 20-F report.

An overview of our key products is available in our Products section.

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