MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
(continued)
Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities
We address certain financial exposures through a controlled
program of risk management that includes the use
of derivative financial instruments. We primarily enter into
foreign currency forward and option contracts to reduce
the effects of fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates
and interest rate derivatives to manage the effects of interest
rate movements on our aggregate liability portfolio.
We also enter into foreign currency forward and option
contracts, not designated as hedging instruments, to
mitigate the change in fair value of specific assets and
liabilities on the balance sheet. We do not utilize derivative
financial instruments for trading or speculative
purposes. Costs associated with entering into these
derivative financial instruments have not been material to
our consolidated financial results.
For each derivative contract entered into where we
look to obtain special hedge accounting treatment, we
formally document all relationships between hedging
instruments and hedged items, as well as our risk-management
objective and strategy for undertaking the hedge
transaction, the nature of the risk being hedged, how the
hedging instruments' effectiveness in offsetting the
hedged risk will be assessed prospectively and retrospectively,
and a description of the method of measuring
ineffectiveness. This process includes linking all derivatives
to specific assets and liabilities on the balance sheet
or to specific firm commitments or forecasted transactions.
We also formally assess, both at the hedge's
inception and on an ongoing basis, whether the derivatives
that are used in hedging transactions are highly
effective in offsetting changes in fair values or cash flows
of hedged items. If it is determined that a derivative is not
highly effective, or that it has ceased to be a highly effective
hedge, we will be required to discontinue hedge
accounting with respect to that derivative prospectively.
Foreign Exchange Risk Management
We enter into foreign currency forward contracts to hedge
anticipated transactions, as well as receivables and payables
denominated in foreign currencies, for periods consistent
with our identified exposures. The purpose of the
hedging activities is to minimize the effect of foreign
exchange rate movements on costs and on the cash flows
that we receive from foreign subsidiaries. The majority of
foreign currency forward contracts are denominated in
currencies of major industrial countries. We also enter
into foreign currency option contracts to hedge anticipated
transactions where there is a high probability that
anticipated exposures will materialize. The foreign currency
forward contracts entered into to hedge anticipated
transactions have been designated as foreign currency
cash-flow hedges and have varying maturities through the
end of June 2010. Hedge effectiveness of foreign currency
forward contracts is based on a hypothetical derivative
methodology and excludes the portion of fair value attributable
to the spot-forward difference which is recorded in
current-period earnings. Hedge effectiveness of foreign
currency option contracts is based on a dollar offset methodology.
The ineffective portion of both foreign currency
forward and option contracts is recorded in current-period
earnings. For hedge contracts that are no longer deemed
highly effective, hedge accounting is discontinued and
gains and losses accumulated in other comprehensive
income (loss) are reclassified to earnings when the underlying
forecasted transaction occurs. If it is probable that
the forecasted transaction will no longer occur, then any
gains or losses in accumulated other comprehensive
income (loss) are reclassified to current-period earnings.
As of June 30, 2009, these foreign currency cash-flow
hedges were highly effective, in all material respects.
At June 30, 2009, we had foreign currency forward
contracts in the amount of $1,260.8 million. The foreign
currencies included in foreign currency forward contracts
(notional value stated in U.S. dollars) are principally the
British pound ($239.1 million), Euro ($212.5 million), Swiss
franc ($206.8 million), Canadian dollar ($168.0 million),
Hong Kong dollar ($79.4 million), Japanese yen ($76.0
million) and Australian dollar ($69.6 million).
Interest Rate Risk Management
We enter into interest rate derivative contracts to manage
the exposure to interest rate fluctuations on our funded
indebtedness and anticipated issuance of debt for periods
consistent with the identified exposures. We have interest
rate swap agreements, with a notional amount totaling
$250.0 million, to effectively convert the fixed rate interest
on our 2017 Senior Notes to variable interest rates
based on six-month LIBOR. These interest rate swap
agreements are designated as fair value hedges of the
related long-term debt and meet the accounting criteria
that permit changes in the fair values of the interest rate
swap agreements to exactly offset changes in the fair
value of the underlying long-term debt. As of June 30,
2009, these fair-value hedges were highly effective in all
material respects.
Credit Risk
As a matter of policy, we only enter into derivative
contracts with counterparties that have at least an "A"
(or equivalent) credit rating. The counterparties to these
contracts are major financial institutions. Exposure to
credit risk in the event of nonperformance by any of the
counterparties is limited to the gross fair value of contracts
in asset positions, which totaled $41.2 million at June 30,
2009. To manage this risk, we have established strict
counterparty credit guidelines that are continually
monitored and reported to management. Accordingly,
management believes risk of loss under these hedging
contracts is remote.
Certain of our derivative financial instruments contain
credit-risk-related contingent features. As of June 30,
2009, we were in compliance with such features and
there were no derivative financial instruments with
credit-risk-related contingent features that were in a net
liability position.
Market Risk
We use a value-at-risk model to assess the market risk of our derivative financial instruments. Value-at-risk represents the
potential losses for an instrument or portfolio from adverse changes in market factors for a specified time period and
confidence level. We estimate value-at-risk across all of our derivative financial instruments using a model with historical
volatilities and correlations calculated over the past 250-day period. The high, low and average measured value-at-risk
for the twelve months ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 related to our foreign exchange and interest rate contracts are
as follows:
The change in the value-at-risk measures from the prior
year related to our foreign exchange contracts reflected
an increase in foreign exchange volatilities and a different
portfolio mix. The change in the value-at-risk measures
from the prior year related to our interest rate contracts
reflected higher interest rate volatilities. The model estimates
were made assuming normal market conditions
and a 95 percent confidence level. We used a statistical
simulation model that valued our derivative financial
instruments against one thousand randomly generated
market price paths.
Our calculated value-at-risk exposure represents an
estimate of reasonably possible net losses that would be
recognized on our portfolio of derivative financial instruments
assuming hypothetical movements in future market
rates and is not necessarily indicative of actual results,
which may or may not occur. It does not represent the
maximum possible loss or any expected loss that may
occur, since actual future gains and losses will differ from
those estimated, based upon actual fluctuations in market
rates, operating exposures, and the timing thereof, and
changes in our portfolio of derivative financial instruments
during the year.
We believe, however, that any such loss incurred would
be offset by the effects of market rate movements on the
respective underlying transactions for which the derivative
financial instrument was intended.
OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS
We do not maintain any off-balance sheet arrangements,
transactions, obligations or other relationships with
unconsolidated entities that would be expected to have a
material current or future effect upon our financial condition
or results of operations.