(5) Partners' equity and minority interests

The development of partners’ equity and minority interests is shown here.

Partners’ capital consists of:

Retained earnings consist of:

Non-distributable partners’ reserves remain unchanged because the appropriation of profit to partners’ reserves in accordance with the Partnership Agreement was offset by withdrawals and transfers in the same amount. The fall in Group reserves was chiefly due to exchange rate effects.

Minority interests
Minority interests include the shares of third parties outside the Freudenberg Group in the equity capital of consolidated subsidiaries following adjustment to the accounting principles of the Freudenberg Group. The increase in minority interests from 116.5 million Euro in 2002 to 145.3 million Euro in 2003 is mainly the result of the acquisition of further shares in the Freudenberg Politex Nonwovens Group which was previously consolidated by the pro-rata method and has been fully consolidated since 2003.