Financial Position

PRINCIPLES AND GOALS OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Financial management at the Volkswagen Group covers liquidity management, currency, interest rate and commodity risk management, as well as credit and country risk management. It is performed centrally for all Group companies by Group Treasury, based on internal directives and risk parameters. The MAN and Porsche Holding Salzburg subgroups are integrated into the main financial management functions, while Scania is integrated to a limited extent. Additionally, these subgroups have their own financial management structures.

The goal of liquidity management is to ensure that the Volkswagen Group remains solvent at all times and at the same time to generate an adequate return from the investment of surplus funds. We use cash pooling to optimize the use of existing liquidity between the significant companies in Europe. To do this, the – positive or negative – balances accumulating on the cash pooling accounts are swept daily into a target account at Group Treasury and thus pooled. Currency, interest rate and commodity risk management is designed to hedge the prices on which investment, production and sales plans are based using derivative financial instruments. Credit and country risk management aims to use diversification to avoid exposing the Volkswagen Group to the risk of loss or default. To achieve this, internal limits are defined on the basis of various credit risks for the volume of business per counterparty when entering into financial transactions. These primarily focus on the capital resources of potential counterparties, as well as the ratings awarded by independent agencies. The relevant risk limits and the authorized financial instruments, hedging methods and hedging horizons are approved by the Executive Committee for Liquidity and Foreign Currency.

For additional information on the principles and goals of financial management, please refer to chapter “Financial risks” and to the notes to the 2016 consolidated financial statements.

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CASH FLOW STATEMENT BY DIVISION

 

 

 

 

 

 

VOLKSWAGEN GROUP

 

AUTOMOTIVE1

 

FINANCIAL SERVICES

1

Including allocation of consolidation adjustments between the Automotive and Financial Services divisions.

2

Net of impairment reversals.

3

These relate mainly to the fair value measurement of financial instruments, application of the equity method and reclassification of gains/losses on disposal of noncurrent assets and equity investments to investing activities.

4

Net cash flow: cash flows from operating activities, net of investing activities attributable to operating activities (investing activities excluding change in investments in securities, loans and time deposits).

5

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash at banks, checks, cash-in-hand and call deposits.

6

The total of cash, cash equivalents, securities, loans from related parties and time deposits net of third-party borrowings (noncurrent and current financial liabilities).

€ million

 

2016

 

2015

 

2016

 

2015

 

2016

 

2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

 

20,462

 

18,634

 

15,294

 

16,010

 

5,168

 

2,624

Earnings before tax

 

7,292

 

−1,301

 

4,884

 

−3,634

 

2,408

 

2,333

Income taxes paid

 

−3,315

 

−3,238

 

−3,526

 

−2,985

 

211

 

−254

Depreciation and amortization expense2

 

20,924

 

19,693

 

14,331

 

13,516

 

6,593

 

6,176

Change in pension provisions

 

235

 

309

 

224

 

295

 

11

 

14

Other noncash income/expense and reclassifications3

 

871

 

817

 

556

 

325

 

316

 

493

Gross cash flow

 

26,007

 

16,280

 

16,468

 

7,518

 

9,539

 

8,762

Change in working capital

 

−16,576

 

−2,601

 

3,803

 

16,278

 

−20,379

 

−18,880

Change in inventories

 

−3,637

 

−3,149

 

−3,313

 

−2,706

 

−324

 

−444

Change in receivables

 

−2,155

 

−1,807

 

−1,876

 

−1,001

 

−280

 

−805

Change in liabilities

 

5,048

 

2,807

 

4,474

 

2,641

 

574

 

166

Change in other provisions

 

5,732

 

18,019

 

5,616

 

17,989

 

116

 

30

Change in lease assets (excluding depreciation)

 

−12,074

 

−10,808

 

−1,157

 

−765

 

−10,917

 

−10,043

Change in financial services receivables

 

−9,490

 

−7,663

 

58

 

120

 

−9,547

 

−7,784

Cash flows from operating activities

 

9,430

 

13,679

 

20,271

 

23,796

 

−10,840

 

−10,117

Cash flows from investing activities attributable to operating activities

 

−16,797

 

−15,523

 

−15,941

 

−14,909

 

−856

 

−614

of which: investments in property, plant and equipment, investment property and intangible assets, excluding capitalized development costs

 

−13,152

 

−13,213

 

−12,795

 

−12,738

 

−357

 

−476

capitalized development costs

 

−5,750

 

−5,021

 

−5,750

 

−5,021

 

 

acquisition and disposal of equity investments

 

1,754

 

2,178

 

2,283

 

2,361

 

−528

 

−183

Net cash flow4

 

−7,367

 

−1,845

 

4,330

 

8,887

 

−11,696

 

−10,731

Change in investments in securities, loans and time deposits

 

−3,882

 

−5,628

 

−3,125

 

−3,506

 

−757

 

−2,122

Cash flows from investing activities

 

−20,679

 

−21,151

 

−19,066

 

−18,415

 

−1,613

 

−2,736

Cash flows from financing activities

 

9,712

 

9,068

 

−2,298

 

−6,333

 

12,009

 

15,401

of which: capital transactions with noncontrolling interests

 

−3

 

−0

 

−3

 

−0

 

 

Capital contributions/capital redemptions

 

 

2,457

 

−1,454

 

140

 

1,454

 

2,317

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents

 

−91

 

232

 

−76

 

236

 

−15

 

−4

Net change in cash and cash equivalents

 

−1,628

 

1,828

 

−1,169

 

−717

 

−460

 

2,544

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at Dec. 315

 

18,833

 

20,462

 

14,125

 

15,294

 

4,709

 

5,168

Securities, loans and time deposits

 

28,036

 

24,613

 

17,911

 

14,812

 

10,125

 

9,801

Gross liquidity

 

46,869

 

45,075

 

32,036

 

30,105

 

14,833

 

14,969

Total third-party borrowings

 

−154,819

 

−145,604

 

−4,856

 

−5,583

 

−149,963

 

−140,021

Net liquidity6

 

−107,950

 

−100,530

 

27,180

 

24,522

 

−135,130

 

−125,052