188 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2025
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
28. Commitments
29. Contingent liabilities and legal proceedings
A commitment is a contractual obligation to make a payment in the future, mainly in relation to agreements to buy assets such as mobile devices, network infrastructure and IT systems and leases that have not commenced. These amounts are not recorded in the consolidated statement of financial position since we have not yet received the goods or services from the supplier. Capital commitments The amounts below are the minimum amounts that we are committed to pay. 2025 2024 €m €m Contracts placed for future capital expenditure not provided in the financial statements 1, 2 2,264 2,442 Notes: 1. Commitment includes contracts placed for property, plant and equipment and intangible assets. 2. Includes € nil (2024 : €4 23 million) in respect of Vodafone Italy and Vodafone Spain, which are reported as discontinued operations. See note 7 ‘Discontinued operations and assets held for sale’ for more information. Leases entered into by the Group but not commenced at 31 March 2025 are disclosed in note 20 ‘Leases’. In March 2023, the Group entered into an agreement with Altice Luxembourg S.A. to create a joint venture, OXG Glasfaser Beteiligungs GmbH (‘OXG’), with 50.0% shareholding held by each shareholder. Each shareholder is committed to contribute funding of up t o €950 million to OXG for the deployment of fibre -to-the-home in Germany. During the year ended 31 March 2025 , the Group provided €3 6 million ( 2024: € 32 million) of capital contributions to OXG. The remaining funding commitment of € 882 million is expected to be contributed between 2025 and 2029. The amount and timing of the funding depends on the speed and size of the fibre deployment. The contribution can be in the form of free capital reserves, shareholder loan, loan notes or similar instruments as agreed by the shareholders.
Contingent liabilities are potential future cash outflows, where the likelihood of payment is considered more than remote, but is not considered probable or cannot be measured reliably. 2025 2024 €m €m Performance and payment bonds 1 1,313 1,399 Note: 1. Performance bonds require the Group to make payments to third parties in the event that the Group does not perform what is expected of it under the terms of any related contracts or commercial arrangements. UK pension schemes The Group’s main defined benefit plan is the Vodafone UK Group Pension Scheme (‘Vodafone UK plan’) which has two segregated sections, the Vodafone Section and the CWW Section, as detailed in note 25 ‘Post employment benefits’. The Group has covenanted to provide security in favour of both the Vodafone Section and CWW Section when they are in a deficit position. The deficit is measured on a prescribed basis agreed between the Group and the Trustee, which differs from the IAS 19 accounting basis or the funding basis per the triennial actuarial valuation reported in note 25 ‘Post employment benefits’. Consequently, the future level of security may vary in line with movements in the Vodafone UK plan deficit. The Group provides surety bonds as the security. As at 31 March 2025, the Vodafone UK plan holds security over €11 9 million (notional value) for the Vodafone Section and no security is currently required for the CWW Section. The security may be substituted either on a voluntary or mandatory basis. The Company has also provided two guarantees to the Vodafone Section of the Vodafone UK plan for a combined value up to €1. 49 billion to provide security over the deficit under certain defined circumstances, including insolvency of the employers. The Company has also agreed a similar guarantee of up to €1. 49 billion for the CWW Section. An additional smaller UK defined benefit plan, the THUS Plc Group Scheme, has a guarantee from the Company for up to €11 9 million.
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