Tiscali 2008 Annual Report Download - page 86

The tax losses correspond to those emerging from the tax
declarations and, for 2008 to the calculations of the taxable
results. These losses amount to EUR 1,661.4 million at 31
December 2008 and refer to the Parent Company and the
Italian subsidiaries (EUR 321.4 million), to Tiscali International
BV and subsidiaries (Netherlands) (EUR 182.6 million less
the adjustments deriving from assessments), and to the
subsidiaries operating in the UK (EUR 933.2 million). The tax
losses at 31 December 2008 also include the accumulated
losses of the German companies in liquidation, amounting to
EUR 224.2 million.
The tax losses relating to 2009 concern the Italian companies,
those relating to 2010-2013 concern the Italian companies and
the Dutch tax consolidation system, while the tax losses with
an unlimited maturity concern the UK companies.
Inventories (note 20)
At 31 December 2008, inventories totalled EUR 6.9 million
and mainly relate to network equipment, consumables,
telephone cards, goods for resale for merchandising activities
and modems.
The change with respect to 2007 is influenced by the writedown
of EUR 2.1 million relating to set-up boxes for iPTV.
Receivables from customers (note 21)
EUR (000) 31.12.2008 31.12.2007
Receivables from customers 259,395 244,787
Writedown provision 82,576) (80,335)
Total 176,819 164,452
At 31 December 2008, Receivables from customers totalled
EUR 176.8 million, after writedowns of EUR 82.6 million. These
receivables accrued from the sale of internet services, billing
of network access services, inverse interconnection traffic,
advertising revenues and business customer and telephone
services provided by the Group. The book value of trade
receivables, in view of the maturities mentioned below and of
conditions regulating the supply of services by the Group, is
approximate to their fair value.
The analysis of receivables is carried out periodically. Each
country adopts a specific policy for calculating the receivable
writedown provision, with reference to experience and historical
trends.
The policy applied in the UK envisages the total writedown of
the receivables due over 90 days, while the policy applied by
the Italian subsidiaries envisages the total writedown of the
receivables due by more than 2 years.
In general, default interest is not applied, unless envisaged
contractually, in the event of the recovery of receivables by
debt collection companies.
With the aim of appraising potential new customers, of defining
receivable limits, of checking the risk level of customers, outside
specialized sources are used.
As the Group’s credit exposure is spread over a very large
customer base, there is no particular credit concentration risk.
The following table illustrates the ageing (gross of the receivable
writedown provision) at 31 December 2008 and 31 December
2007, respectively:
EUR (000) 31.12.2008 31.12.2007
not due 53,077 49,517
1 – 180 days 106,632 108,231
181 – 360 days 27,982 20,129
over 360 days 71,704 66,910
Total 259,395 244,787
The following table illustrates the changes in the receivable
writedown provision during the respective accounting periods.
EUR (000) 31.12.2008 31.12.2007
Writedown provision at start of period (80,335) (35,040)
Exchange differences 10,485 930
Acquisitions/Consolidation area change - (31,189)
Disposals/Consolidation area change 437 -
Provision (35,418) (27,332)
Utilisation 22,255 12,296
Writedown provision at end of period (82,576) (80,335)
The change during 2008, amounting to EUR 2.2 million, was
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CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
EUR (000) Total Year of maturity
at 31.12.2008 2009 2010 2011 Beyond 2011 Unlimited
Total prior tax losses 1,661,369 122,557 16,584 241,515 112,711 1,168,002
Deductible timing differences 492,209
Total tax losses and deductible timing differences 2,153,578
Total prepaid taxes (at theoretic average tax rate of 27.9%) 600,051
Prepaid taxes recorded 10,507
Prepaid taxes not recorded 589,543