Financial position
Liabilities
Liabilities DB AG (HGB) / € million | 2023 | 2022 | Change | |
absolute | % | |||
Liabilities to affiliated companies | 42,225 | 39,806 | +2,419 | +6.1 |
Liabilities to banks | 2,540 | 531 | +2,009 | ‒ |
Liabilities to companies where a shareholding relationship exists | 1 | 1 | ‒ | ‒ |
Trade liabilities | 43 | 46 | –3 | –6.5 |
Other | 552 | 196 | +356 | ‒ |
Total | 45,361 | 40,580 | +4,781 | +11.8 |
Liabilities of DB AG increased noticeably as of December 31, 2023:
- The main drivers were liabilities to affiliated companies and banks:
- Liabilities to affiliated companies increased significantly as a result of DB Finance’s continued high issue activity and higher liabilities from profit and loss transfer agreements. The lower liabilities from intra-Group cash pooling had a dampening effect.
- Liabilities to banks increased significantly as of December 31, 2023, mainly as a result of the use of bank lines, among other things to prefinance measures to stabilize the operational quality of the infrastructure (bridge financing).
- Other liabilities increased significantly as a result of the issue of short-term commercial papers.
Capital expenditures
Gross capital expenditures in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets was significantly higher than the previous year’s figure at € 34 million (previous year: € 28 million) and resulted mainly from IT projects.
Statement of cash flows
Summary of statement of cash flows DB AG (HGB) / € million | 2023 | 2022 | Change | |
absolute | % | |||
Cash flow from operating activities | ‒537 | ‒759 | +222 | ‒29.2 |
Cash flow from investing activities | ‒4,437 | ‒4,009 | ‒428 | +10.7 |
Cash flow from financing activities | 3,047 | 5,450 | ‒2,403 | ‒44.1 |
Net change in cash and cash equivalents | ‒1,927 | 682 | –2,609 | ‒ |
Cash and cash equivalents as of Dec 31 | 663 | 2,590 | ‒1,927 | ‒74.4 |
- Cash outflow from operating activities improved and was not as weak as in the previous year. The loss before depreciation, interest and net investment income was largely offset by positive working capital effects.
- The increase in cash outflow from investing activities was mainly due to a higher net use of DB Group financing by subsidiaries (€ –1,051 million) and changes in cash pooling receivables and loans (€ –1,032 million). This was counteracted by a net inflow of funds from profit transfers (€ 669 million; previous year’s net cash outflow from assumption of losses: € –733 million). The significant increase in cash inflow from received interest (€ +314 million) also had a dampening effect.
- The significant decline in cash inflow from financing activities resulted mainly from a cash outflow in connection with cash pooling liabilities (€ –1,506 million; cash inflow in the previous year: € +2,141 million), the omission of the Federal Government’s equity capital measures for the partial compensation of Covid-19 losses (previous year: € +860 million) and the dividend payment to the Federal Government (€ –650 million; previous year: none). The increased cash outflow for paid interest (€ –375 million) also had a negative effect. In contrast, the development was partially offset by higher net payments from the taking up and redemption of bonds and financial loans (€ +3,122 million).
- On balance, this resulted in a cash outflow (previous year: cash inflow), which resulted in DB AG having significantly lower cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2023, compared to the end of the previous year.
Deviations from the forecast financial position
DB AG’s performance in 2023 corresponds to the forecast for the 2023 financial year that was published in the 2022 Management Report.
