BT 1998 Annual Report Download - page 68

O T E S T O T H E F I N A N C I A L S TAT E M E N T S
Group Company
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1998 1997 1998 1997
24. Financial commitments and contingent liabilities £m £m £m £m
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Contracts placed for capital expenditure not provided for in the accounts 1,047 1,125 965 1,008
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Operating lease payments payable within one year of the
balance sheet date were in respect of leases expiring:
Within one year 910 36
Between one and five years 39 32 21 19
After five years 135 131 94 92
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Total payable within one year 183 173 118 117
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Future minimum operating lease payments for the group at 31 March 1998 were as follows:
Payable in the year ending 31 March:
1998
£m
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1999 183
2000 167
2001 127
2002 122
2003 118
Thereafter 1,265
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Total future minimum operating lease payments 1,982
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Operating lease commitments were mainly in respect of leases of land and buildings.
At 31 March 1998, there were no contingent liabilities or guarantees other than those arising in the ordinary course of the
group’s business and on these no material losses are anticipated. The group has insurance cover to certain limits for major
risks on property and major claims in connection with legal liabilities arising in the course of its operations. Otherwise, the
group generally carries its own risks.
The company has guaranteed certain borrowings of subsidiary undertakings amounting to £1,330m (1997 – £1,577m).
Satellite consortia, in which the company has participating interests, are organisations without limited liability. At 31 March
1998, the company’s share of the aggregate borrowings of these consortia amounted to £188m (1997 – £179m).
Outstanding at 31 March 1998 and 1997 were warrants entitling the holders to subscribe in 1999 for US dollar 8.765%
guaranteed bonds at par, repayable in 2009, to be issued by the group with a total principal value equivalent to £119m
(1997 – £123m).
The company does not believe there are any pending legal proceedings which would have a material adverse effect on the
financial position or results of operations of the group.
As explained in note 15(b), the company’s merger agreement with MCI (the BT/MCI merger) was terminated on 9 November 1997.
Individuals purporting to represent classes of MCI shareholders have now filed seventeen complaints in the Court of Chancery in
the State of Delaware (the “Delaware Shareholder Class Actions”), asserting claims in connection with the original and
renegotiated terms of the then-proposed BT/MCI merger. MCI and certain of its officers and directors, including officers of the
company who served as MCI directors, are named as defendants in all seventeen Delaware Shareholder Class Actions. The
company is named as a defendant in fifteen of these cases. The original and amended complaints filed in these fifteen cases
collectively allege that the company breached and aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duties owed to MCI shareholders in
connection with the then-proposed BT/MCI merger. In addition, amended complaints in five of the Delaware Shareholder Class
Actions assert claims in connection with the pending WorldCom/MCI merger, including challenges to the merger termination fee
paid to the company and the company’s right to receive cash in exchange for its Class A common shares in MCI. Four of these
amended complaints name the company as a defendant. The court, having issued an order consolidating fifteen of the Delaware