The €32,945 million rise in current and non-current liabilities to €242,276 million is primarily attributable to Postbank, which further expanded its operations. This served to increase liabilities associated with assets held for sale. Moreover, this item contains the reclassified provisions from discontinued operations. Current and non-current provisions declined accordingly, whereas in particular the restructuring measures led to an increase. All in all, this item decreased from €12,276 million to €10,836 million. Financial liabilities were reduced considerably by €6,084 million to €4,097 million. €5,474 million of this reduction relates to Postbank’s reclassified subordinated debt. In addition, loan obligations were repaid and the financial liabilities to Williams Lea minority shareholders were reduced. Other current and non-current liabilities declined from €5,462 million to €5,112 million.

Indicators for the “Postbank at equity” scenario

When calculating the “Postbank at equity” balance sheet indicators, Postbank is treated as an investment accounted for using the equity method.

Net debt comprises financial liabilities less cash and cash equivalents, current financial instruments, long-term deposits and financial liabilities to minority shareholders of Williams Lea. Since financial liabilities decreased whilst cash and cash equivalents were nearly unchanged, net debt declined from €2,858 million as at 31 December 2007 to €2,412 million.

Net gearing – the ratio of net debt to the sum of equity and net debt combined – increased from 20.4% to 23.3%.

Net interest cover is calculated by dividing EBIT by net interest paid/received and shows the ratio of EBIT to net interest obligations. It declined from 7.1 to 4.2. 

The dynamic gearing ratio is an indicator of internal financing capacity and expresses the average number of years required to pay outstanding debt using the whole of the cash flow generated in the year under review. As net debt has dropped and operating cash flow has increased, the dynamic gearing ratio has further improved from an average of 1.0 to 0.7 years.

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