Associated British Foods plc – Annual report – 13 September 2025
Industry: retail, food and drink
27. Financial instruments (extract)
i) Borrowing facilities
The Group has substantial borrowing facilities available to it totalling £2,047m (2024 – £2,009m). The undrawn committed facilities at 13 September 2025 amounted to £1,545m (2024 – £1,532m). Uncommitted facilities at 13 September 2025 totalled £382m (2024 – £343m) of which £217m (2024 – £207m) was undrawn.
In addition to the above facilities there are also £239m (2024 – £210m) of undrawn and available credit lines for the purposes of issuing letters of credit and guarantees in the normal course of business.
The Group has issued a public bond of £400m due in 2034. Included are deferred financing costs totalling £9m which have been capitalised against the bond and are to be amortised over its term.
Uncommitted bank borrowing facilities are normally reaffirmed by the banks annually, although they can be withdrawn at any time. Refer to note 9 for details of the Group’s capital commitments and to note 28 for a summary of the Group’s guarantees.
The terms of a bank loan with a carrying value of £65m require the Group to comply with certain financial covenants related to the ratio of net debt to EBITDA at each annual and interim reporting date. Due to construction delays in completion of the asset to which the loan relates, the Group has agreed, subsequent to the balance sheet date, a waiver for the covenant test for August 2025 and February 2026.
An assessment of the Group’s current liquidity position is given in the Financial Review on page 47.
Accounts examples 