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19. Trade and other receivables

(in millions of euros)

31 December 2022

31 December 2021

Receivables

276

192

Unbilled revenue

130

182

Other taxes and social security charges

36

89

Other receivables

234

756

Total

676

1,219

Trade and other receivables includes an amount of € 117 million (2021: € 493 million) relating to ProRail and the Dutch central government. Of this amount, € 69 million (2021: € 481 million) relates to public transport availability payments to be received in the Netherlands (see note 3).

The ageing of receivables as at the reporting date was as follows.

(in millions of euros)

 

31 December 2022

 

31 December 2021

 

Gross

Provided for

Gross

Provided for

Not past due

240

2

120

5

Past due 0-30 days

28

6

65

13

Past due 31-120 days

8

-

72

59

Past due 121-180 days

2

-

8

3

Past due 181-360 days

3

-

6

3

Past due more than one year

5

2

8

4

Total

286

10

279

87

Impairment losses

Movements in the provision for impairments of trade receivables during the year were as follows:

(in millions of euros)

2022

2021

Balance as at 1 January

87

59

Additions

10

76

Use

-11

-39

Release

-64

-12

Held for sale

-8

-

Exchange differences

-4

3

Balance as at 31 December

10

87

The release of the provision for impairments is mainly related to the termination of a dispute with a supplier in the United Kingdom. The result is included in the result from discontinued operations.

Other receivables

For the acquisition of the shares in Westfalenbahn GmbH and PTS GmbH, the Group paid € 9 million and € 1.75 million respectively in December 2021. These share prepayments were stated at fair value via the income statement as at 31 December 2021 and have been set at a value of zero for WestfalenBahn. The fair value was determined on the basis of expected cash flows from the companies to be acquired. This fair value was then included in 2022 in the amount sacrificed upon the actual acquisition of the shares (see note 1). At that time it appeared that the write-down of WestfalenBahn had to be reversed in full.

Accounting policy

Trade and other receivables are stated at fair value plus any directly attributable transaction costs upon initial recognition. After initial recognition, they are recognised at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

The Group has formed a provision for impairment equal to the size of the estimated credit losses from trade and other receivables. The most important elements of this provision are a specific loss provision for significant individual positions and a group loss provision for groups of comparable assets concerning losses that are expected but have not yet been identified. The group loss provision is determined on the basis of historic payment data for comparable financial assets.

Provisions for trade receivables are made in the case of an impairment, unless the Group is certain that it will not be possible to recover the amount owed. In that case, the amount is considered irrecoverable and is written off directly against the financial asset concerned.

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