Although the capital markets have recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, the currently ongoing trade conflicts, the uncertain outcome of Brexit and a rising interest rate environment in the medium term pose new challenges for the international banking and economic system.
In such a volatile environment, adherence to the proven and solid funding and investment policy of Energie AG has increasingly demonstrated its value.
Top Rating Confirmed Once Again
In March 2018, Energie AG's creditworthiness was again confirmed by Standard & Poor's (S&P) with an excellent rating of “A/stable outlook”. Following last year's upgrade, Standard & Poor's thus recognised the Group's ongoing efforts to further improve its operating and financial performance. The conservative and sound financial management and strong liquidity, in particular, had a positive impact on the S&P rating.
With this rating, Energie AG now occupies an absolute top position in the utility industry in a national and international context. The strong investment-grade rating assures the company excellent flexibility in financing issues in the future, as well as unhindered access to the financial and capital markets at cost-efficient terms.
Stable and Future-Proof Finances
Financial liabilities were reduced once again by EUR 9.3 million to EUR 455.1 million in the past fiscal year. The balanced repayment profile of outside financing is dominated by funds with bullet-term maturities. A significantly increased refinancing requirement for Energie AG will only exist from 2025 onwards.
Maturity Profile of Financial Liabilities
As of 30/09/2018; nominal values in EUR mill.
A mix of cash and highly liquid money market instruments is maintained to ensure solvency at all times. As of 30 September 2018, the Energie AG Group had liquidity reserves totalling EUR 282.5 million. Unused and partially committed credit lines of EUR 198.4 million underline Energie AG's high level of financial flexibility.
Central Group Financing
The Group's internal financial management is centrally governed at the holding level and provides both cost-optimised liquidity management and long-term funding tailored to the Group companies' needs, based on arm's length market conditions. At the end of the fiscal year 2017/2018, 26 Group companies were included in Energie AG's cash pooling system.