DHL 2015 Annual Report Download - page 70

Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
Free cash ow improved by  million year-on-year to , million, due primarily
to a sharp rise in net cash from operating activities. Cash inows from the disposal of
the equity investments also helped to increase this item. A sharp fall in interest paid also
contributed to the improvement in free cash ow; in the rst quarter of , we un-
wound interest rate swaps for bonds, which led to a cash inow. e accounting treat-
ment of these inows is the same as for the hedged item. For this reason, we are only
reporting small interest payments of  million in the reporting year (previous year:
 million). Free cash ow was reduced due primarily to the increased amount of cash
paid to acquire property, plant and equipment and intangible assets.
At , million, net cash used in nancing activities was signicantly lower than
in the previous year (, million). In the previous year, the repayment of a bond of
 million made a signicant contribution to the cash outow. At , million, the
dividend paid to our shareholders was again the largest payment item in . It in-
creased by  million year-on-year.
Changes in the individual activities saw cash and cash equivalents increase from
, million as at  December  to , million.
Net assets
Selected indicators for net assets .
31 Dec. 2014 31 Dec. 2015
Equity ratio  25.9 29.8
Net debt  m 1,499 1,093
Net interest cover 20.7 83.1
Net gearing  13.5 8.8
 to debt 1  27.7 29.1
1 Calculation Financial position, page .
Increase in consolidated total assets
e Group’s total assets amounted to , million as at  December ,  mil-
lion higher than at  December  (, million).
At , million, non-current assets were up on the previous year’s gure of
, million. Intangible assets increased by  million to , million, driven
primarily by a rise in goodwill that was due to exchange rate movements. However, the
impairment losses on intangible assets in relation to  reduced this item by  mil-
lion. Property, plant and equipment increased by  million to , million as add-
itions and positive currency eects exceeded depreciation, impairment losses and dis-
posals. e reversal of impairment losses in the Express Americas region also contributed
to the rise. In contrast, non-current nancial assets decreased from , million to
, million, due primarily to the sale of shares in equity investments. Deferred tax
assets changed from , million to , million.
At , million, current assets were at the previous year’s level (, million).
Inventories decreased by  million to  million. e sale of money market funds
worth  million was the main reason for the signicant decline in current nancial
assets from  million to  million. Trade receivables declined by  million to
, million, although foreign currency eects of  million had an osetting eect.
Other current assets also decreased, declining by  million to , million. e
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