pre_text: Item 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA You should read the following selected consolidated financial data for the five-year period ended March 31, 2019 in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" included in Items 7 and 8 of this Form 10-K. Our consolidated statements of income data for each of the years in the three-year period ended March 31, 2019, and the balance sheet data as of March 31, 2019 and 2018, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, included in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. The statement of income data for the years ended March 31, 2016 and 2015 and balance sheet data as of March 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included herein (in the tables below all amounts are in millions, except per share data). (1) Refer to Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for an explanation of our material business combinations during fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2017. (2) Refer to Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements for a discussion of the special charges and other, net. (3) Refer to Note 12 Debt and Credit Facility for further discussion.
table: Year ended March 31,
table: 2019 (1) 2018 2017 (1) 2016 2015
table: Consolidated Statements of Income data:
table: Net sales $5,349.5 $3,980.8 $3,407.8 $2,173.3 $2,147.0
table: Special charges and other, net (2) $33.7 $17.5 $98.6 $4.0 $2.8
table: Loss on settlement of debt (3) $(12.6) $(16.0) $(43.9) $— $(50.6)
table: Net income from continuing operations $355.9 $255.4 $170.6 $323.9 $365.3
table: Basic net income per common share from continuing operations $1.51 $1.10 $0.79 $1.59 $1.84
table: Diluted net income per common share from continuing operations $1.42 $1.03 $0.73 $1.49 $1.65
table: Dividends declared per common share $1.457 $1.449 $1.441 $1.433 $1.425
table: Consolidated Balance Sheets data:
table: Total assets $18,350.0 $8,257.2 $7,686.9 $5,537.9 $4,780.7
table: Net long-term debt and capital lease obligations, less current maturities (3) $8,956.0 $1,769.1 $2,912.1 $2,465.8 $1,840.0
table: Microchip Technology stockholders' equity $ 5,287.5 $ 3,279.8 $3,270.7 $ 2,150.9 $ 2,044.7
question: Analyse this data from a financial earnings document. What was the change in net sales between 2016 and 2017?