21. (e) Financial liabilities and net debt

Trade and other payables are as follows:

Trade payables are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Accounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade payables are recognized initially at fair value and subsequently measured at amortized cost using the effective interest method.

Liabilities from reverse factoring programs

The following table contains further information on reverse factoring programs. Programs with the same payment conditions are aggregated accordingly:

No guarantees or collateral were issued on liabilities from reverse factoring programs as at December 31, 2024 or December 31, 2023.  There were no cash-effective transfers from trade payables to financial liabilities as at December 31, 2024 and 2023.

All trade payables are due to third parties within one year. As a result, these have short-term maturities, therefore the carrying amounts on the reporting date correspond to their fair values, as the impacts of discounting are not material.

Refund liabilities

Reimbursement liabilities are recognized for volume discounts and similar bonus agreements payable to customers. These arise from retrospective volume rebates or similar agreements that are based on total sales or

on a specific product sale of a twelve-month or shorter period. Refund liabilities are recognized for discounts expected to be payable to the customer for sales completed by the end of the reporting period. Further details can be found in NOTE 3 SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES. All reimbursement liabilities are due to third parties within one year. The carrying amounts on the reporting date therefore correspond to their fair values, as the impacts of discounting are not material.

ii. Bank borrowings

NORMA Group’s borrowings were as follows as at the reporting date:

Borrowings are recognized initially at fair value, net of directly attributable transaction costs incurred. In subsequent measurement, borrowings are measured at amortized cost. Any difference between the proceeds (net of transaction costs) and the redemption value is recognized in profit or loss over the period of the borrowings using the effective interest method.

Fees paid on the establishment of loan facilities are recognized as transaction costs of the loan to the extent that it is probable that some or all of the facility will be drawn down. In this case, the fee is deferred until the draw-down occurs. To the extent that there is no evidence that it is probable that some or all of the facility will be drawn down, the fee is capitalized as a pre-payment for liquidity services and amortized over the period of the facility to which it relates.

Borrowings are classified as current liabilities unless the Group has an unconditional right to defer settlement of the liability for at least twelve months after the reporting date.

The maturities of the long-term syndicated loans, promissory notes and other loans are as follows:

The loan obligations existing as at December 31, 2024, and 2023, have the following conditions:

a) Fair value of bank borrowings

The fair value calculation of the fixed-interest promissory note, which is recognized at amortized cost and for which the fair value is stated in the notes, was based on the market yield curve according to the zero coupon method considering credit spreads (Level 2). Interest accrued on the reporting date is included.

iii. Other financial liabilities

Other financial liabilities were as follows:

a) Liabilities from the ABS and factoring

The liabilities from ABS and factoring include liabilities from continuing involvement recognized as part of the ABS and factoring programs in the amount of EUR 892 thousand (Dec 31, 2023: EUR 1,012 thousand), liabilities from recognized fair values of default and interest rate guarantees in the amount of EUR 336 thousand (Dec 31, 2023: EUR 348 thousand) as well as liabilities from payments received from customers for receivables already sold within the ABS and factoring programs as part of the accounts receivable/receivables management carried out by NORMA Group in the amount of EUR 11,089 thousand (Dec 31, 2023: EUR 7,272 thousand.

iv. Maturity of financial liabilities

The financial liabilities of NORMA Group have the following maturities:

v. Net debt

Net debt of NORMA Group is as follows:

NORMA Group’s financial liabilities are 10.6% lower than on December 31, 2023.The decrease in loan liabilities is due to the net repayment in the 2024 fiscal year.

In the past fiscal year 2024, repayments were made in the amount of EUR 66,796 thousand. These primarily relate to the scheduled repayment of promissory note loans in the amount of EUR 18,000 thousand and the unscheduled repayment of syndicated loans of EUR 48,100 thousand. Positive currency effects had the opposite impact.

Lease liabilities slightly decreased compared to the end of 2023, the changes due to repayments (payment of lease installments), the additions from rights of use, reassessments of extension options and contract amendments, and interest effects led to a net decrease; exchange rate effects mainly on liabilities in US dollars – of subsidiaries in the United States – had an increasing impact.

The increase in other financial liabilities resulted mainly from the increase in liabilities from ABS and factoring.

Net debt decreased by EUR 16,267 thousand, or 4.7%, as of December 31, 2024.

Current interest expenses in the fiscal year and additions to lease liabilities as part of newly concluded leases had an increasing effect on net debt.

This development was offset by net cash inflows from the sum of cash inflows from operating activities to EUR 136,985 thousand, net cash outflows from investing activities amounting to 63,450 thousand and the payment of dividends amounting to EUR 14,338 thousand.

Cash-neutral net currency effects from foreign-currency loans, cash and cash equivalents, and lease liabilities and other financial liabilities had an increasing impact on net debt.