* Indicators marked with „*” was subject of a assurance engagement by an independent auditor.
The balance of cash of the Budimex Group on 31 December 2017 was PLN 2,126,809
thousand, that is, PLN 588,284 thousand lower than on 31 December 2016. In 2017, Budimex SA paid out a dividend in the amount of PLN 382,696 thousand. Throughout 2017, Budimex Nieruchomości Sp. z o.o. Company invested PLN 150,000 thousand of its own cash in land for development, and the Budimex Group disposed PLN 80,000 thousand to expand and modernise machinery.
The generation of cash on basic level, despite dividend being paid and the above-mentioned expenditure, was possible mainly due to the high profitability of the Group’s companies in all operation segments achieved in 2017, especially in the railway and road segment, and also due to signing new contracts, which resulted in the already mentioned historic sales rate of Budimex.
In accordance with the Group’s policy, cash surpluses were placed as bank deposits at banks with a good rating.
In addition, Budimex SA used cash surpluses to finance its suppliers of services and raw materials, which had a positive effect on the financial liquidity of these suppliers, and generated extra finance income for Budimex SA. The Budimex Group entities reported an external debt in respect of bank loans and borrowings and other external sources of finance, including finance lease liabilities, which as of 31 December 2017 amounted to PLN 122,410 thousand and were PLN 39,801 thousand higher than as of 31 December 2016 (see the table below). The Group’s debt is mainly composed of: the debt of Budimex SA under finance leases (concluded for the purpose of financing the purchase of property, plant and equipment – primarily machines and equipment for the performance of road and railway construction contracts) and a loan taken out by Budimex Parking Wrocław sp. z o.o. to finance a car park concession (car park at the Centennial Hall in Wrocław). The aforementioned increase in total debt in 2017 results primarily from increase in Budimex SA’s debt under finance lease agreements. As at the end of 2017, the Group had no debt under bank loans financing the property development activities.
The following ratios illustrate the structure of finance at the Budimex Group:
As of the end of 2017, the ratios illustrating the Group’s equity structure slightly improved. The increase in net profit and the resulting increase in equity contributed to the decrease in debt ratios and the increase in the equity to assets ratios, despite a significant increase in the Group’s total assets.
The liquidity ratios remained on a similar level (a slight increase of current ratio and a slight decrease of quick ratio) in relation to the previous year’s ratio.
