Set out below are the principal accounting policies used to prepare these consolidated financial statements:
| 3.1 | Business combinations and goodwill |
Business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method.
Consideration transferred includes the fair values of the assets transferred, liabilities incurred by the Group to the previous owners of the acquiree, and equity interests issued by the Group. Consideration transferred also includes the fair value of any contingent consideration and share-based payment awards of the acquiree that are replaced mandatorily in the business combination.
If a business combination results in the termination of pre-existing relationships between the Group and the acquiree, then the Group identifies any amounts that are not part of what the Group and the acquiree exchanged in the business combination. The Group recognizes as part of applying the acquisition method, only the consideration transferred for the acquiree and the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the exchange for the acquiree.
If the business combination is achieved in stages, any previously held equity interest is re-measured at its acquisition date fair value and any resulting gain or loss is recognized in profit or loss. It is then considered in the determination of goodwill.
Any contingent consideration to be transferred by the acquirer will be recognized at fair value at the acquisition date. Subsequently, contingent consideration classified as an asset or liability, is measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in profit or loss. Contingent consideration that is classified as equity is not re-measured and subsequent settlement is accounted for within equity.
The Group measures any non-controlling interest at its proportionate interest in the identifiable net assets of the acquiree.
Goodwill is initially measured at cost, being the excess of the aggregate of the consideration transferred and the amount recognized for non-controlling interests, and any previous interest held, over the net identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. If the fair value of the net assets acquired is in excess of the aggregate consideration transferred, the Group re-assesses whether it has correctly identified all of the assets acquired and all of the liabilities assumed and reviews the procedures used to measure the amounts to be recognized at the acquisition date. If the re-assessment still results in an excess of the fair value of net assets acquired over the aggregate consideration transferred, then the gain is recognized in profit or loss.
After initial recognition, goodwill is measured at cost less any accumulated impairment losses. For the purpose of impairment testing, goodwill acquired in a business combination is, from the acquisition date, allocated of the Group’s cash generating units that are expected to benefit from the synergies of the combination, irrespective of whether other assets or liabilities of the acquired entity are assigned to those units.
Where goodwill has been allocated to a cash-generating unit and certain operation within that unit is disposed of, the goodwill associated with the operation disposed of is included in the carrying amount of the operation when determining the gain or loss on disposal of the operation. Goodwill disposed in this circumstance is measured based on the relative values of the operation disposed and the portion of the cash-generating unit retained.