8. Cost of Sales and Directly Related Costs
The following costs have been included in the operating result:
in thousands of EUR | Notes | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Direct materials | 792,680 | 772,508 | |
Employee costs | 1,162,720 | 1,100,583 | |
Occupancy costs | 498,079 | 479,990 | |
Marketing & publicity costs | 177,952 | 162,798 | |
Depreciation and impairments | 117,055 | 110,069 | |
Amortization and impairments | 92,606 | 53,323 | |
Distribution costs | 65,809 | 68,472 | |
Other costs | 218,110 | 214,043 | |
3,125,011 | 2,961,786 |
Occupancy costs include fixed and variable rent for stores, offices and other buildings under operating lease contracts of €398,566 (2016: €396,585).
The employee costs can be specified as follows:
in thousands of EUR | Notes | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Salaries & wages | 830,338 | 782,743 | |
Social security | 175,617 | 169,501 | |
Pension costs - Defined benefit plans | 4,434 | 3,520 | |
Pension costs - Defined contribution plans | 16,902 | 15,686 | |
Share-based payments | 11,274 | 15,303 | |
Other employee-related costs | 124,155 | 113,830 | |
1,162,720 | 1,100,583 |
The average number of employees within the Group during 2017 (excluding the associates and joint ventures) in full-time equivalents was 31,802 (2016: 28,766). The increase in 2017 mainly relates to the acquisitions of Visilab and Tesco Opticians.