Unsecured financing for the Group includes bilateral and syndicated bank revolving credit facilities and term loans (with initial maturities usually of five years, often extendable); US Private Placements with maturities up to 2034; and Sterling unsecured bonds maturing in 2029 and 2032.
Unsecured borrowing covenants
There are two financial covenants which apply across all of the Group’s unsecured debt. These covenants, which have been consistently agreed with all unsecured lenders since 2003, are:
- Net Borrowings not to exceed 175% of Adjusted Capital and Reserves
- Net Unsecured Borrowings not to exceed 70% of Unencumbered Asset
As at 31 March | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
Net Borrowings to Adjusted Capital and Reserves | 47 | 40 | 38 | 36 | 33 |
Net Unsecured Borrowings to Unencumbered Assets | 43 | 38 | 32 | 30 | 25 |
There are no income or interest cover covenants on any of the unsecured debt of the Group. The Unencumbered Assets of the Group, not subject to any security, stood at £5.2bn as at 31 March 2025.
Although secured assets are excluded from Unencumbered Assets for the covenant calculations, unsecured lenders benefit from the surplus value of these assets above the related debt and the free cash flow from them.
During the year ended 31 March 2025, these assets generated £36m of surplus cash after payment of interest.
In addition, while investments in joint ventures do not form part of Unencumbered Assets, our share of free cash flows generated by these ventures is regularly passed up to the Group.