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CHAPTER 8:Business environment and portfolio changes

8.2

Significant judgements and assumptions made by management in applying the related accounting policies

 

IFRS 3 Business Combinations (IFRS 3)

In applying IFRS 3, management applied the following significant judgements and estimates:

Fair values of material assets acquired

The following material assets were fair valued applying the following valuation techniques and key assumptions:

Plant and equipment: Primary operating assets: Wind turbines with substation connections to the grid
Valuation technique: Cost approach applying a depreciated replacement cost method, which determines the replacement cost of an existing asset after deducting an allowance for wear or consumption to reflect the remaining economic life of the existing asset.
Key assumptions: Asset lives: 26.3 to 26.4 years
Depreciation method: Straight line
Condition rating1: Very good (94% to 96%)
1 Asset condition: Asset is like new, fully operable, well maintained, and performs consistently at or above current standards. Little wear shown and no further action required.
Intangible assets: Existing power purchase agreements with Eskom
Valuation technique: Income approach applying a multi-period excess earnings method which determines the present value of the after-tax cash flow attributed to the intangible asset. The technique is based on the earnings power or cash-generating abilities of the entity or asset being valued. The income approach focuses on estimating a forecast cash flow stream that is reflective of the most likely future operations of the entity or asset. Such forecast cash flows are then discounted to present value based on the appropriate risk adjusted discount rate or capitalisation rate that is reflective of both the risk and long-term growth prospects of the entity or asset.
Key assumptions: Discount rate: 11.1%
Remaining life of contracts: 16.3 to 16.4 years

Non-controlling interests:

Management views the share-based payment transactions with the BEE minority shareholders of the SPVs as in-substance share options that are equity-settled in terms of IFRS 2 Share-based Payment (IFRS 2). These options were not yet exercised at the acquisition date.

Non-controlling interests: In-substance share option
Valuation technique: A Monte-Carlo simulation technique has been applied, discounting the distribution streams using a risk-free rate of return.
Key assumption: Risk-free curve – ZAR swap zero curve semi-annual: Year 1 to 5: 5.31% to 6.20%Year 6 to 16: 7.03% to 10.28%
Lock-in discount percentage: 33% for community BEE parties 25% for other BEE party
Standard deviation tolerance: 7% for Amakhala SPV10% for Tsitsikamma SPV

IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held-for-Sale and Discontinued Operations (IFRS 5)

In applying IFRS 5, management made judgements as to which non-current assets and discontinued operations meet the criteria to be classified and measured in terms of IFRS 5 (refer notes 8.4 and 6.1.4).

IAS 36 Impairment of Assets (IAS 36)

In applying IAS 36, impairment assessments are performed whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset or CGU may not be recoverable. Management, in particular, identify and track indicators such as the movement in group market capitalisation, volatility in exchange rates, commodity prices and the economic environment in which the businesses operate, to assess whether there is an indication of impairment.

Assets previously impaired are reviewed for possible reversal of impairment at each reporting date.

Estimates are made in determining the recoverable amount of assets which includes the estimation of cash flows and discount rates used. In estimating the cash flows, management bases cash flow projections on reasonable and supportable assumptions that represent management's best estimate of the range of economic conditions that will exist over the remaining useful life of the assets. The discount rates used reflect the current market assessment of the time value of money and the risks specific to the assets for which the future cash flow estimates have not been adjusted.

The impairment assessments performed by management for the different operations resulted in no impairment for the year ended 31 December 2020, except for the ECC operation. Judgements were required in the determination of key variables and future market conditions, particularly in relation to the parameters included in the following table:

Coal operations 2020 2019
Discount rate (%) 8.38% 7.87%
Rand/US$ exchange rate R15.50 to R16.27 R12.99 to R14.22
Coal API4 long-term price (per tonne) US$72.14 US$81.00
Coal domestic selling price range (per tonne) R695 to R735 R508 to R563

Management considered and assessed reasonably possible changes for the key assumptions and have not identified any instances that could cause the carrying amount of the coal operations to exceed its recoverable amount.

Refer note 10.2.2 for details of the impairment testing performed on the Cennergi CGU.