Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 138

20 OMMITMENTS AND ONTINENT LIABILITIES ONTINUED
Operatng lease and other commtments fall due as follows
 mllon
Operatng
leases
2015
 mllon
Operatng
leases
2014
 mllon
Other
commt-
ments
2015
 mllon
Other
commt-
ments
2014
Wthn 1 year 410 390 919 1,034
Later than 1 year but not later than 5 years 1,187 1,171 830 950
Later than 5 years 857 766 35 41
2,454 2,327 1,784 2,025
The roup has sublet part of the leased propertes under operatng leases Future mnmum sublease payments of 5 mllon
(2014 7 mllon) are expected to bereceved
Other commtments prncpally comprse commtments under contracts to purchase materals and servces They do not nclude
commtments for captal expendture, whch are reported n note 10 on page 111
ontngent labltes arse n respect of ltgaton aganst group companes, nvestgatons by competton, regulatory and fscal
authortes and oblgatons arsng under envronmental legslaton The estmated total of such contngent labltes at
31 December 2015 was 1,310 mllon (2014 1,406 mllon), the largest of whch relates to the local corporate reorgansaton n 2001
explaned further below The roup does not beleve that any of these contngent labltes wll result n a materal loss
LEAL PROEEDINS
The roup s nvolved from tme to tme n legal and arbtraton proceedngs arsng n the ordnary course of busness
As prevously dsclosed, along wth other consumer products companes and retal customers, Unlever s nvolved n a number of ongong
nvestgatons by natonal competton authortes These proceedngs and nvestgatons are at varous stages and concern a varety of
product markets In the second half of 2015 Unlever recognsed an expense of 86 mllon (2014 30 mllon, 2013 120 mllon) related to
these cases, dsclosed wthn non-core tems
Ongong complance wth competton laws s of key mportance to Unlever It s Unlever’s polcy to co-operate fully wth competton
authortes whenever questons or ssues arse In addton, the roup contnues to renforce and enhance our nternal competton law
complance programme on an ongong bass As dsclosed above, where specfc ssues arse provsons are made and contngent
labltes dsclosed to the extent approprate
Durng 2004 n Brazl, and n common wth many other busnesses operatng n that country, one of our Brazlan subsdares receved a
notce of nfrngement from the Federal Revenue Servce The notce alleges that a 2001 reorgansaton of our local corporate structure
was undertaken wthout vald busness purpose The 2001 reorgansaton was comparable wth restructurngs done by many companes
n Brazl The orgnal dspute was resolved n the courts n the roup’s favour However, n 2013 a new assessment was rased n respect
of a smlar matter Addtonally, durng the course of 2014 another notce of nfrngement was ssued based on the same ground argued
n the prevous assessments The roup beleves that the lkelhood of a successful challenge by the tax authortes s low, however, there
can be no guarantee of success n court The maxmum exposure related to ths matter s 1,134 mllon (2014 1,250 mllon)
In many markets, there s a hgh degree of complexty nvolved n the local tax regmes In common wth other busnesses operatng n ths
envronment, the roup s requred to exercse udgement n the assessment of any potental exposures n these areas Where approprate,
the roup wll make provsons or dsclose contngences n accordance wth the relevant accountng prncples
21 AQUISITIONS AND DISPOSALS
Busness combnatons are accounted for usng the acquston accountng method as at the acquston date, whch s the date at
whch control s transferred to the roup
oodwll s measured at the acquston date as the far value of consderaton transferred, plus non-controllng nterests and the far
value of any prevously held equty nterests less the net recognsed amount (whch s generally far value) of the dentfable assets
and labltes assumed onsderaton transferred does not nclude amounts related to settlement of pre-exstng relatonshps Such
amounts are generally recognsed n net proft
Transacton costs are expensed as ncurred, other than those ncurred n relaton to the ssue of debt or equty securtes Any contngent
consderaton payable s measured at far value at the acquston date Subsequent changes n the far value of contngent
consderaton are recognsed n net proft
hanges n ownershp that do not result n a change of control are accounted for as equty transactons and therefore do not have any
mpact on goodwll The dfference between consderaton and the non-controllng share of net assets acqured s recognsed wthn equty
131Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015 Financial statements