During Fiscal year 2020, Sodexo S.A. purchased 340,00 of its own shares for 34 million euro, to be used for restricted share grants.
On April 27, 2020 and July 17, 2020, Sodexo S.A. issued two bonds for a total nominal amount of 2.5 billion euro, which allowed it to extend the average maturity of its debt and strengthen its long-term liquidity reserves (see note 15.1 “Bond issues”).
In addition, in order to preserve its independence and financial agility, Sodexo S.A. proceeded in July 2020 to early redeem its U.S. Private Placement (USPP borrowings ), with a nominal amount of 607 million U.S. dollars. In accordance with the contractual provisions, compensation for a total amount of 48 million U.S. dollars (42 million euro) was paid and recognized as exceptional expenses. Following this transaction, described in notes 5. “Exceptional items” and 15.2.2 “U.S. private placements”, Sodexo S.A. is no longer subject to compliance with any financial covenant in respect of its borrowings.
The individual company financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the plan comptable général of 2014 and regulation no. 2014-03 issued by the Autorité des normes comptables (ANC), as amended by regulation no. 2016-07 dated November 4, 2016.
The accounting policies applied in preparing the individual company financial statements for Fiscal 2020 are the same as those applied for Fiscal 2019 . The financial statements have been prepared using the historical cost convention.
In accordance with regulation no. 2015-06 issued by the ANC, merger deficits are included in “Other financial assets” (see note 7, “Non-current assets”).
ANC regulation no. 2015-05 concerning forward financial instruments and hedging transactions has been effective for Sodexo S.A. since September 1, 2017 (see note 2.5 below for further details).
General accounting conventions were applied with respect to the principle of prudence and in accordance with basic assumptions as follows:
The basic method used to value the items recognized in the accounts is the historical cost method. Only significant information is disclosed.
The amounts presented in the tables in these notes are in millions of euro.
Exceptional items comprise items that do not relate to ordinary activities, and certain items that do relate to ordinary activities but are of an exceptional nature.
The balance sheet and income statement of Sodexo S.A. include amounts for branches in metropolitan France and in French overseas departments and regions.
Non-current assets are valued at acquisition cost or historical cost. Acquisition cost comprises the amount paid plus all incidental costs directly related to the acquisition or to the installation of the asset, and incurred to enable the asset to function as intended.
Depreciation is calculated over the useful life of the asset using the straight-line method, which is considered to best reflect the underlying economic reality.
Soft ware is amortized over three to five years and integrated management software packages are amortized over three to seven years, depending on their expected useful lives.
The difference between the accounting and tax amortization of intangible assets is recognized as exceptional amortization.
The straight-line depreciation lives generally used are:
| Buildings | Buildings 20 years |
|---|---|
| General fixtures and fittings | General fixtures and fittings 3-10 years |
| Plants and machinery | Plants and machinery 4-10 years |
| Motor vehicles | Motor vehicles 4 years |
| Office and computer equipment | Office and computer equipment 3-10 years |
| Other property, plant and equipment | Other property, plant and equipment 5-10 years |
