The Telefónica Group seeks to match the schedule for its debt maturity payments to its capacity to generate cash flows to meet these maturities, while allowing for some flexibility. In practice, this has been translated into two key principles:
- The Telefónica Group’s average maturity of net financial debt is intended to stay above six years or be restored above that threshold in a reasonable period of time if it eventually falls below it. This principle is considered as a guideline when managing debt and access to credit markets, but not a rigid requirement. When calculating the average maturity for the net financial debt, a portion of the undrawn credit lines can be considered as offsetting the shorter debt maturities, and extension options on some financing facilities may be considered as exercised, for calculation purposes.
- The Telefónica Group must be able to pay all commitments over the next 12 months without accessing new borrowing or tapping the capital markets (drawing upon firm credit lines arranged with banks), assuming budget projections are met.
At December 31, 2022, the average maturity of net financial debt (26,687 million euros) was 13.11 years (including undrawn committed credit facilities).
At December 31, 2022, financial liabilities (Note 18) and lease liabilities (Note 20) scheduled to mature in 2023 amounted to 4,020 and 2,020 million euros, respectively. These maturities are lower than the amount of funds available, calculated as the sum of: a) cash and cash equivalents and current financial assets; b) annual cash generation projected for 2022, and c) undrawn credit facilities arranged with banks whose original maturity is over one year (an aggregate of 11,434 million euros at December 31, 2022), providing flexibility to the Telefónica Group with regard to accessing capital or credit markets in the next two years. For a further description of the Telefónica Group’s liquidity and capital resources in 2022, see Note 18 and Appendix V.
Note: For further information, please access the (18) Financial liabilities section of the Consolidated Information document within 2022 Annual Report (page 85-89 pdf) and the Appendix V (page 196 pdf).
