Balance Sheet 

Our recent acquisitions have been funded by debt rather than by the issue of new equity. Net borrowings amounted to £2.1bn at 31 March 1999. Interest costs were covered five times over by trading profit before goodwill amortisation.

A programme is now under way to re-finance this debt which, until March, was all in the form of bank borrowings. We plan to use a range of capital market instruments to reduce our bank borrowings, minimise our borrowing costs and widen our sources of funds. £400m of non-recourse borrowings, securitised on General Guarantee’s loan book, were raised in March and a further £380m in June. We plan to issue bonds in the next few months; the proceeds will be used to repay bank borrowings.