1 General information

Introduction

Q-Park NV (the company) is a public limited company whose registered office and principal place of business is in the Netherlands. Neither the company's shares not liabilities are listed on any stock exchange. The Supervisory Board approved the consolidated annual accounts drawn up by the Executive Board for the year 2013 on Friday 21 March 2014 and these will be submitted for adoption to the General Meeting of the Shareholders to be held on Wednesday 21 May 2014.

All amounts are in EUR millions unless otherwise stated. Q-Park NV's consolidated annual accounts have been prepared in compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union up to and including 31 December 2013. In addition, the Q-Park NV annual accounts comply with the legal stipulations set out in Title 9, Book 2, Dutch Civil Code.

Group consolidation

The financial data of Q-Park NV and of the group companies over which control is exercised are recognised in the consolidated annual accounts. A statement of the group companies and the company’s other participating interests is set out in note 38.

New and changed standards per 1 January 2013

The accounting policies for financial reporting applied are consistent with those applied in the previous financial year, with the exception of the new and changed IFRS standards and IFRIC interpretations as well as the changes in presentation as explained below. The following new and changed IFRS standards and IFRIC interpretations are applicable to the 2013 financial year:

• IFRS 7 Financial instruments: Disclosures – Offsetting Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. The changes require disclosure of rights to offset and related arrangements (for example regarding collateral). Since Q-Park does not offset financial instruments and has not made any relevant offsetting arrangements, this change has no influence on Q-Park's current disclosures.
• IFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement - new standard, effective as off 1 January 2013. This standard contains regulations regarding the determination of fair value and related notes for financial as well as non-financial items. Introduction of the standard has no impact on the financial position of Q-Park because the standard is actually no more than a further clarification of existing requirements.
• IAS 1 Presentation of items of other comprehensive income - changes concerning the presentation of the direct equity movements recognised in the comprehensive income and the related tax effect for each component. The changes only apply to the presentation and do not affect Q-Park's financial position.
• IAS 12 Income taxes - Recovery of underlying assets. The amendment clarifies how deferred tax is to be determined on investment property from IAS 40 which is stated at fair value. The amendment introduces a rebuttable presumption that realisation of the book value of the investment property which is stated at fair value takes place by means of sale. This amendment has no impact on Q-Park's financial position or results.
• IAS 19 Employee benefits (revised). IAS 19R contains a number of changes regarding the processing of defined-benefit pension plans. Since Q-Park’s pension scheme qualifies as a defined contribution plan, this change has no impact on Q-Park's financial position or results.

In May 2012, the IASB published the ‘2009-2011 cycle’ improvements of the standards and interpretations with the intention of removing inconsistencies and clarifying the texts. Insofar as the application of an improvement is applicable to Q-Park, these are described below:

• IAS 1 Presentation of Financial statements: These amendments clarify the difference between voluntary additional comparative information and the minimum comparative information required. If an entity voluntarily includes additional comparative information, this must also be included in the accompanying notes to the financial statements. It has also been clarified that the opening balance (1 January 2012 for Q-Park), which is included because of modifications or reclassification of financial statement items, does not have to be accompanied by comparative information in the relevant explanatory notes. The changes only affect the presentation and the explanatory notes and do not have an impact on Q-Park's financial position or results.
• IAS 32 Tax effects of distributions to holders of equity instruments. This amendment clarifies that taxes on distributions to shareholders are processed in accordance with IAS 12. The amendment means that existing requirements regarding tax on profits in IAS 32 lapse and that an entity should apply the requirements of IAS 12 to tax on profits following distributions to shareholders. This improvement has no impact on Q-Park's financial position or results.

The following amended standard, effective as off 1 January 2014, has been applied early:

• IAS 36 - Impairment of assets - amendment that corrects the unintended consequences of IFRS 13 regarding the explanatory notes of realisable values from cash generating units. The changes only apply to the explanatory note and do not affect Q-Park's financial position.

Standards published but not yet effective

The following standards, relevant to Q-Park, were not yet effective on the publication date of the Q-Park annual accounts. Here, the standards and interpretations are only summarised if there is a reasonable expectation that in future application these may have an impact on the disclosures, financial position or the results of Q-Park. These standards and interpretations will be applied as soon as they become effective:

• IFRS 9 - Financial instruments – introduction of a new framework for classification and valuation of financial fixed assets, effective as off 1 January 2018.
• IFRS 10 - Consolidated financial statements – new standard which replaces the part in IAS 27 that contains provisions regarding consolidation processing and which introduces a revised definition of the principle of control, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IFRS 11 - Joint arrangements – new standard containing regulations pertaining to the accountability of joint arrangements under joint control, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IFRS 12 - Disclosure of interests in other entities – new standard containing regulations concerning disclosure regarding all forms of interest in other entities, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IFRS 10-12 Transitional provisions, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IFRS 10, IFRS 12 and IAS 27 - Investment institutions, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IAS 19 Employee benefits – Defined benefit plans: Employee contributions, effective as off 1 July 2014.
• IAS 27 The company annual accounts, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IAS 28 – Investments in associates and joint ventures – amendment concerning no longer recognising joint ventures in the scope of consolidation, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IAS 32 Financial instruments: Presentation - Offsetting financial assets and financial liabilities, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IAS 39 Financial instruments: Recognition and measurement - Renewal of derivatives and continuation of hedge accounting, effective as off 1 January 2014.
• IFRIC 21 Levies, effective as off 1 January 2014
• Annual improvements to IFRS, cycle 2010-2012 (published December 2013)1, effective as off 1 July 2014.
• Annual improvements to IFRS, cycle 2011-2013 (published December 2013)1, effective as off 1 July 2014.

 The company does not expect that these amendments will materially affect the annual accounts.

Presentation changes

In the financial year, in the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, Q-Park NV has partially changed the presentation of the result components associated with the operational and financial lease agreements.

Presentation up to and including 2012 financial year:

Up to and including the 2012 financial year, Q-Park presented these components as follows:

• Variable lease costs from operational and financial lease agreements were presented in the operational result as a separate item;
• Fixed lease costs: the ‘fixed’ result components relating to the financial lease agreements were presented as follows:
  • the interest costs included in the financial leases were recognised in the direct result as part of the 'Financial result';
  • the movement due to the change in the capitalised lease obligations, included in the finance leases, was presented as part of the 'Valuation results' in the indirect result.

The presentation of the result components of the operational and financial lease agreements differs from the way in which Q-Park NV assesses, manages and reports on the performance of its investment property - including investment property by means of operational and financial lease agreements - to its stakeholders.

Presentation from 2013 financial year:

To meet stakeholders' preferred manner of assessing the financial performance of investment property, as from the 2013 financial year, Q-Park NV has changed the presentation of the ‘fixed’ result components from operational and financial lease agreements.

As from the 2013 financial year, the fixed lease costs associated with operational and financial leases are presented as part of the ‘cost of investment property operational and financial lease’ in the operational result before depreciation. The presentation of the variable lease costs component has not been changed.

The presentation change of the ‘fixed’ result components associated with the operational and financial lease agreements does not affect the net result or equity.

The following table shows the revised presentation of the ‘fixed’ lease components and contains the adjusted comparative figures for 2012, in accordance with the above.

In addition, in 2013, the presentation of the operational result has changed because the depreciation is now presented separately from the sum of the operating costs. Due to this change, two new subtotals arise: the ‘operational result before depreciation’ and the ‘operational result after depreciation’.

Finally, in 2013, the presentation of income from the internally capitalised hours has changed. As from 2013, this income is no longer presented as part of net revenue, but as part of the costs of wages and salaries. The equivalent figures for 2012 have also been adjusted in this respect. The net revenue was EUR 745.1 million and becomes EUR 739.9 million. The wages and salaries were EUR 94.3 million and become EUR 89.1 million.

Estimates in the annual accounts

It is necessary to make estimates and evaluations for the purpose of preparing these annual accounts. These estimates and evaluations have consequences for the amounts reported for assets and liabilities, income and expenditure. Further details about the most important of these estimates are set out below.

At least once a year Q-Park determines whether goodwill impairment is applicable. This requires an estimate of the realisable value of the cash generating units to which the goodwill is allocated.

The value of the investment property is based on the basic principles set down by Q-Park as well as on the estimates and calculations provided by external valuation experts. The estimates and calculations made by external valuation experts mainly concern the discount rate to be used, the determination of the ‘exit yield’ and the development of the expected revenue and expenses based on the specific circumstances of each location.

There is some uncertainty regarding the explanation of complex tax regulations and the level and timing of future taxable profits. Considering the wide range of international business relationships and the long-running and complex nature of existing contractual agreements, differences may arise between the assumptions made and the actual results, or future changes in such assumptions may result in future changes.

Deferred tax assets related to compensating tax losses are recognised in so far as it is probable that future profit will be available against which this can be set-off. In order to determine the value of these deferred tax assets relating to compensating tax losses, a considerable degree of management assessment is required regarding the probable timing and level of the future taxable profits, combined with future fiscal planning strategies.