SECTION 1 -

2.6.4 Working capital requirements
The Group’s working capital requirements are structurally negative. At the end of 2009,
negative working capital requirements were €2,032 million, €56 million more than at the end of 2008
(€1,976 million). After the deduction of reserve funds, negative working capital requirements were
€1,467 million at the end of 2009, compared with €1,535 million at the end of 2008.
The following table presents the components of the Group’s working capital requirements
before and after deduction of reserve funds.
(in millions of euros) 2007 2008 2009
Inventory 10 11 13
Trade receivables 1,095 846 894
Other receivables and accruals 159 242 248
Working capital items ‐ assets 1,264 1,099 1,155
Trade payables 92 196 140
Other payables 177 292 164
Prepaid services vouchers in circulation 2,895 2,587 2,883
Working capital items ‐ liabilities 3,164 3,075 3,187
Float (absolute value of negative working capital
requirements) 1,900 1,976 2,032
Reserve funds 392 441 565
Float after reserve funds 1,508 1,535 1,467
The Group’s float was equivalent to 8.6 weeks of issue volume at the end of 2007, 8.1 at the
end of 2008 and 8.5 at the end of 2009 (12.0 in Europe and 3.9 in Latin America and the Caribbean).
At December 31, 2009, activities in Europe accounted for 78% of the float, Latin America and
the Caribbean 19% and the rest of the world 3%.
2.6.5 Cash management
The Group’s cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled €1,224 million at
December 31, 2008 and €1,263 million at December 31, 2009 (€1,222 million in marketable securities
and €41 million of cash and cash equivalents).
These figures do not include reserve funds, which amounted to €441 million at the end of
2008 and €565 million at the end of 2009. In accordance with French and Romanian regulations,
these reserve funds are required to be invested in low‐risk, highly liquid instruments. All interest on
such investments belongs to New Services. The Group’s policy is to invest the remainder of its cash in
similar types of instruments.
New Services plans to continue to pursue a prudent investment strategy designed to allow
the Group to redeem all vouchers presented by affiliated merchants. At December 31, 2009, of the
€1,222 million of marketable securities, €1,096 million was invested in money‐market instruments
and €121 million was invested in bonds and other marketable securities intended to be held to
maturity. The remainder was invested in mutual funds maturing in less than three months and other
monetary instruments.
Cash management is centralized at the Company level. The Group’s local subsidiaries are
financially independent from one another.
The Company’s treasury policy is to invest in local currency with the highest‐rated Tier 1
institutions in the country concerned and invest mainly in monetary instruments, with a diverse range
of institutions.
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