Our general strategy is to seek to maintain our strategic target level of cash and cash equivalents between EUR 1.0 billion and EUR 1.5 billion. To the extent that our cash and cash equivalents exceeds this target and there are no investment opportunities that we wish to pursue, we will consider returning excess cash to our shareholders.

ASML repurchased 5 million shares (EUR 88 million) in February 2008. The cumulative amount returned to shareholders in the form of share buybacks and capital repayment between May 2006 and February 2008 was EUR 2,137 million.

The total amount of outstanding shares at the end of 2009 is approx. 433 Million shares.

ASML's current primary reporting standard is US GAAP and the company will continue to use this standard for its financial statements. However, companies quoted on Euronext are now required to publish financial results according IFRS. In Q2 2005, we started to post both US GAAP and IFRS financial statements on our website.

For ASML the main significant differences between US GAAP and IFRS are the capitalization of certain product development costs, the accounting of stock option plans and the accounting of existing convertible bonds.

There are three companies in the world providing leading edge lithography solutions, ASML, Canon and Nikon. In 2009, ASML's marketshare based on revenue is approximately 68% according to the latest available industry data.

At the end of Q2 2010, ASML employs nearly 6700 people worldwide. Of the total, 3950 are located in Europe, 1450 in the USA and 1300 in Asia.

ASML’s corporate headquarters is in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. Manufacturing sites and research and development facilities are located in Connecticut, California and the Netherlands. Technology development centers and training facilities are located in Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the United States. Additionally, ASML provides optimal service to its customers via 62 sales and service offices in 16 countries.