Financial Management Principles and Objectives

Financial independence main objective of the financial management

The objective of Bechtle’s financial policy is to keep the group’s financial power at a high level, thereby retaining the company’s financial independence by securing the liquidity. At the same time, risks are to be avoided as far as possible. Therefore, the rules of procedure of the Executive Board state that the execution of all kinds of speculative forward transactions is subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board – especially for currencies, goods, and securities – unless they serve the hedging of regular business operations or individual business incidents, orders, or associated risks or are belong to usual business operations.

As a matter of principle, Bechtle uses derivative financial instruments exclusively for hedging purposes. In the reporting period, these were currency futures and interest swaps (see Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements). The hedging of the group currency euro represents a key subject of the financial management. The company endeavours to use hedging measures that protect the equity in euros and that do not have any effect on profit or loss in the income statement. Hedging measures are mainly taken for Swiss francs, as material amounts of foreign asset items and foreign-currency cash flows are held and generated primarily in Swiss francs.

For the investment of excess liquidity, quick availability is more important than maximum yield, e.g. in order to be able to access available cash and cash equivalents in the event of acquisitions. Thus, pure financial goals – such as the optimisation of the interest yield – are subordinate to the acquisition strategy and the company growth.

Investment business was only conducted with investment-grade debtors. Extensive financial flexibility forms the basis for success in a highly consolidated market. The liquidity situation is centrally managed and monitored by the treasury (see Risk Report, chapter “Finance”).