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Management’s discussion and analysis as of December 31, 2015
Group financial position
Financing and liquid resources
4.2.4
Corporate Treasury and Financing’s liquidity management strategy
At December
31, 2015, the Group had two undrawn syndicated lines
consists of:
of credit obtained from a pool of leading banks, for a total of 3.9
billion
euros. Group policy consists of keeping these facilities on stand-by to
promoting conservative financing strategies in order to ensure that
●
support the commercial paper program. The loan agreements for the
the Group has a sufficiently strong credit rating and can raise funds
syndicated lines of credit include the usual commitments and default
on the bond and commercial paper markets;
clauses, including
pari passu
, negative pledge, change of control and
maintaining a presence in the debt market through regular debt
●
cross-default clauses and a clause restricting substantial sales of
issuance programs, mainly in euros, in order to create a balanced assets. They do not, however, include any rating trigger, although the
maturity profile. The Group’s issuance capacity under its Euro pricing grid may be adjusted up or down to reflect changes in the
Medium Term Notes (EMTN) program totals 12
billion euros. Since long-term credit rating. None of the agreements contains a material
2007, the loan agreements for the EMTN program include a soft
adverse change clause.
change of control clause that would be triggered in the event that a
The Group considers that its liquidity position is robust, as it has
change of control led to Carrefour losing its investment grade rating.
sufficient cash reserves to meet its debt repayment obligations in the
In this case, the notes would not become immediately repayable but
coming year.
the interest rate would increase;
The Group’s debt profile is balanced, with no peak in refinancing needs
using the 5
billion euros commercial paper program on NYSE
●
across the remaining life of bond debt, which averages four years and
Euronext Paris, described in a prospectus filed with the Banque de
four months.
France;
maintaining undrawn medium-term bank facilities that can be
●
At December
31, 2015, Carrefour was rated BBB+/A-2 with a stable
drawn down at any time according to the Group’s needs.
outlook by S&P.
Restrictions on the use of capital resources
4.2.5
There are no material restrictions on the Group's ability to recover or
The local supervisory authorities may require banking subsidiaries to
use the assets and settle the liabilities of foreign operations, except for
comply with certain capital, liquidity and other ratios and to limit their
those resulting from local regulations in its countries.
exposure to other Group parties.
Expected sources of funding
4.2.6
To meet its commitments, Carrefour can use its free cash flow and raise debt capital using its EMTN and commercial paper programs, as well as its
credit lines.
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