Financial review (continued)
Ahold Annual Report 2012 38 Ahold at a glance
Our strategy
Our performance
Governance
Financials
Investors
Group credit facility
In June 2011, Ahold completed the refinancing of its five-year
€1.2 billion committed credit facility originally maturing in August
2012. The new €1.2 billion committed, unsecured, multi-currency and
syndicated credit facility has a base term of five years and includes the
possibility of 12-month extensions in each of the first two years. In May
2012, we applied for a 12-month extension period and subsequently
agreed with the majority of the participating banks on the extension of
the facility in the amount of €1.0 billion from June 2016 to June 2017.
The second extension option will be assessed in 2013.
The facility may be used for working capital and for general corporate
purposes and provides for the issuance of $550 million (€416 million)
in letters of credit. As of December 30, 2012, there were no
outstanding borrowings under the credit facility other than letters of
credit to an aggregate amount of $244 million (€184 million).
As of year end 2012, liquidity amounted to €2.9 billion, defined
as cash (including cash equivalents and short-term deposits) of
€1.9 billion and the undrawn portion of the committed credit facility
of €1.0 billion. Under normal conditions we expect to operate with
liquidity of around €2.0 billion, evenly split between cash and the
undrawn portion of our committed credit facilities. It is our intention to
move to this level of liquidity as we continue to invest in growth, reduce
our debt and return cash to shareholders, resulting in a more efficient
capital structure.
Cash flow
2012
million
2011
million
Operating cash flows from continuing
operations
2,116
1,786
Purchase of non-current assets
(911)
(755)
Divestment of assets disposal groups
held for sale
51
23
Dividends from joint ventures
157
130
Interest received
11
27
Interest paid
(236)
(246)
Free cash flow
1,188
965
Repayments of loans and finance
lease liabilities
(534)
(77)
Dividends paid on common shares
(415)
(328)
Share buyback
(277)
(837)
Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired
(701)
(30)
Changes in short-term deposits
155
71
Other
73
10
Net cash from operating, investing
and financing activities
(511)
(226)
Free cash flow, at €1,188 million, increased by €223 million compared
to 2011Cash generated from operations was up €330 million,
primarily as a result of lower working capital requirements, lower taxes
paid, as well as a higher dividend received from ICA and the positive
impact of a stronger U.S. dollar against the euro in 2012. This was
partially offset by higher levels of capital expenditures.
Free cash flow
million
2009 2010
Free cash flows as of net sale
In 2012, the main uses of free cash flow included:
The acquisition of bol.com, the agreement to transfer 82 stores in the
Netherlands from Jumbo, and the acquisitions of 15 Genuardi's and
two Fresh Green's stores in the United States, totaling €701 million
Returns to shareholders (through our annual dividend and the share
buyback program) in the amount of €692 million
Debt repayments of €534 million, including a redemption of the
€407 million notes on maturity; partly offset by a positive impact of
the settlement of the cross-currency swap
