Carrefour - 2017 Registration Document

5 CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2017 Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements CARREFOUR | 2017 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 245 Impairment tests 6.3 Accounting principles In accordance with IAS 36 – Impairment of Assets, intangible assets and property and equipment are tested for impairment whenever events or changes in the market environment indicate that the recoverable amount of an individual asset and/or a cash-generating unit (CGU) may be less than its carrying amount. For assets with an indefinite useful life – mainly goodwill in the case of the Carrefour group – the test is performed at least once a year. Individual assets or groups of assets are tested for impairment by comparing their carrying amount to their recoverable amount, defined as the higher of their fair value less costs of disposal and their value in use. Value in use is the present value of the future cash flows expected to be derived from the asset. If the recoverable amount is less than the carrying amount, an impairment loss is recognised for the difference. Impairment losses on property and equipment and intangible assets (other than goodwill) may be reversed in future periods provided that the asset’s increased carrying amount attributable to the reversal does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined, net of depreciation or amortisation, had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset in prior years. Impairment of assets other than goodwill Impairment tests on property and equipment are performed at the level of the individual stores (CGUs), for all formats. In accordance with IAS 36, intangible assets (other than goodwill) and property and equipment are tested for impairment whenever there is an indication that their recoverable amount may be less than their carrying amount. All stores that report a recurring operating loss before depreciation and amortisation in two consecutive years (after the start-up period) are tested. Recoverable amount is defined as the higher of value in use and fair value less the costs of disposal. Value in use is considered to be equal to the store’s discounted future cash flows over a period of up to five years plus a terminal value. Fair value is estimated based on the prices of recent transactions, industry practice, independent valuations or the estimated price at which the store could be sold to a competitor. The discount rate applied is the same as for impairment tests on goodwill. Goodwill impairment IAS 36 requires impairment tests to be performed annually at the level of each CGU or group of CGUs to which the goodwill is allocated. According to the standard, goodwill is allocated to the CGU or group of CGUs that is expected to benefit from the synergies of the business combination. Each CGU or group of CGUs to which the goodwill is allocated should represent the lowest level within the entity at which the goodwill is monitored for internal management purposes and should not be larger than an operating segment as defined in IFRS 8 – Operating Segments before aggregation. For the purpose of analysing the recoverable amount of goodwill, each individual country is considered to represent a separate CGU. The choice of this level is based on a combination of organisational and strategic criteria. In particular, operations within each country (hypermarkets, supermarkets, etc.) use shared resources (country-level centralised purchasing organisation, marketing systems, headquarters functions, etc.) that represent an essential source of synergies between the various operations. Value in use corresponds to the sum of discounted future cash flows for a period generally not exceeding five years, plus a terminal value calculated by projecting data for the final year to perpetuity at a perpetual growth rate. A specific discount rate by country is used for the calculation. Future cash flows used in the impairment tests carried out in 2017 were estimated based on the financial trajectories defined by the Group’s Executive Management. The discount rate for each country corresponds to the weighted average cost of equity and debt, determined using the median gearing ratio for the sector. Each country’s cost of equity is determined based on local parameters (risk-free interest rate and market premium). The cost of debt is determined by applying the same logic. Fair value is the price that would be received to sell the operations in the country tested for impairment in an orderly transaction between market participants. Fair value is measured using observable inputs where these exist (multiples of net sales and/or EBITDA for recent transactions, offers received from potential buyers, stock market multiples for comparable companies) or based on analyses performed by internal or external experts. Additional tests are performed at the interim period-end when there is an indication of impairment. The main impairment indicators used by the Group are as follows: internal impairment indicator: a material deterioration in the ● ratio of recurring operating income before depreciation and amortisation to net revenues excluding petrol between the budget and the most recent forecast; external impairment indicator: a material increase in the ● discount rate and/or a severe downgrade in the IMF’s GDP growth forecast. Impairment losses recognised on goodwill are irreversible, including those recorded at an interim period-end.