Group Management Report Corporate Governance Environment, Safety, and Corporate Social Responsibility Consolidated Financial Statements 51 applies to the need for capital expenditure, which caters to the continual expansion of business activities. As a result, our financing strategy is oriented to keep- ing the cash and cash equivalents generated within the Group centralized. In addition, a financing framework is sought that enables ALTANA to flexibly and quickly carry out acqui- sitions and even large investment projects beyond the accustomed scope. To successfully implement these goals, we manage nearly all of the Group’s internal financing centrally via ALTANA AG. To this end, cash pools for all of the important currency areas have been set up. At the end of 2015, ALTANA’s liabilities totaled € 350 mil- lion due to the issuance of two promissory note loans in 2012 and 2013. The promissory note loans are divided into tranches with both variable and fixed interest rates and dif- ferent maturities. The loans will be repaid with nearly stable annual contributions between 2016 and 2020. Further- more, a general syndicated credit facility with a line of credit of € 250 million was adjusted and renewed in 2015. The new term of the credit facility is five years with the option of a two-year extension. This financing structure offers ALTANA the flexibility it needs to appropriately take advantage of short-term or investment-intensive growth opportunities. The distribu- tion of the maturities of the financing instruments we use enables us to optimally control repayment of liabilities with inflows from operating cash flow. We continue to use off-balance-sheet financing instru- ments to a very limited extent. These include purchasing commitments, operating leasing commitments, and guaran- tees for pension plans. Details on the existing financing instruments are provided in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Liquidity Analysis Key figures 2014 2015 Δ % in € million Cash flow from operating activities 298.2 346.1 16 Cash flow from investing activities (162.9) (140.7) N / A Cash flow from financing activities ( 123.2) (63.1) N / A In the course of 2015, the level of cash and cash equiva- lents increased by € 145.0 million (previous year: € 19.2 million) to € 422.1 million (previous year: € 277.1 million). Cash inflow from operating activities rose by 16% to € 346.1 million (previous year: € 298.2 million). As a result, the operating cash flow exceeded our expectations. At the beginning of 2015, we expected the cash inflow to be roughly the same as in the previous year. This growth was driven by the reduction of net working capital, which off- set the lower consolidated net income as well as the negative effects of income tax items. The development of provisions also had a positive impact. Compared to 2014, the cash outflow from investing activities decreased to € 140.7 million in 2015 (previous year: € 162.9 million). Apart from the slightly lower invest- ments in intangible assets and property, plant and equip- ment, there were no payments for acquisitions in 2015, while the previous year includes the acquisition of the Brazilian companies. The cash outflow from financing activities amounted to € 63.1 million (previous year: € 123.2 million) in 2015. Debt was reduced insignificantly in the course of the year. In the previous year, ALTANA recorded a much higher cash outflow from the reduction in liabilities due to the repayment of ac-
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