(d) Other:
In 2014, other was comprised primarily of the recoveries of damages we received in connection with the settlement of class action lawsuits in which we were a plaintiff, related to certain purchases we made in prior periods. In July 2013, we received similar recoveries of damages in the amount of $24.0.
10. INCOME TAXES
Our effective income tax rate can vary significantly quarter-to-quarter for various reasons, including the mix and volume of business in lower tax jurisdictions within Europe and Asia, in jurisdictions with tax holidays and tax incentives, and in jurisdictions for which no deferred income tax assets have been recognized because management believed it was not probable that future taxable profit would be available against which tax losses and deductible temporary differences could be utilized. Our effective income tax rate can also vary due to the impact of restructuring charges, foreign exchange fluctuations, operating losses, and changes in our provisions related to tax uncertainties.
During the first quarter of 2014, Malaysian investment authorities approved our request to revise certain required conditions related to income tax incentives for one of our Malaysian subsidiaries. The benefits of these tax incentives were not previously recognized, as prior to this revision we had not anticipated meeting the required conditions. As a result of this approval, we recognized an income tax benefit of $14.1 in the first quarter of 2014 relating to years 2010 through 2013. There was no tax impact associated with the $40.8 non-cash goodwill impairment charge we recorded in the fourth quarter of 2014. See note 9 (b).
During the fourth quarter of 2013, we recorded net income tax recoveries of $8.0 arising from net changes to our provisions for certain tax uncertainties.
See note 12 regarding income tax contingencies.
11. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Our financial assets are comprised primarily of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and derivatives used for hedging purposes. Our financial liabilities are comprised primarily of accounts payable, certain accrued and other liabilities and provisions, and derivatives. We record the majority of our financial liabilities at amortized cost except for derivative liabilities, which we measure at fair value. We classify our term deposits as held-to-maturity. We record our short-term investments in money market funds at fair value, with changes recognized in our consolidated statement of operations.
We classify the financial assets and liabilities that we measure at fair value based on the inputs used to determine fair value at the measurement date. See note 20 of our 2013 annual audited consolidated financial statements for details of the input levels used and our fair value hierarchy at December 31, 2013. There have been no significant changes to the source of our inputs since December 31, 2013.
Cash and cash equivalents are comprised of the following:
|
December 31
|
|
December 31
| ||||
Cash....................................................................................................................................................... |
$ |
294.3 |
|
|
$ |
397.2 |
|
Cash equivalents................................................................................................................................. |
250.0 |
|
|
167.8 |
| ||
|
$ |
544.3 |
|
|
$ |
565.0 |
|
Our current portfolio consists of bank deposits and certain money market funds that primarily hold U.S. government securities. The majority of our cash and cash equivalents is held with financial institutions each of which had at December 31, 2014 a Standard and Poor's short-term rating of A-1 or above.
Currency risk:
Due to the global nature of our operations, we are exposed to exchange rate fluctuations on our financial instruments denominated in various currencies. The majority of our currency risk is driven by the operational costs incurred in local currencies by our subsidiaries. We manage our currency risk through our hedging program using forecasts of future cash flows and balance sheet exposures denominated in foreign currencies.
Our major currency exposures at December 31, 2014 are summarized in U.S. dollar equivalents in the following table. We have included in this table only those items that we classify as financial assets or liabilities and which were denominated in non-functional currencies. In accordance with the IFRS financial instruments standard, we have excluded items such as pension and non-pension post-employment benefits and income taxes. The local currency amounts have been converted to U.S. dollar equivalents using the spot rates at December 31, 2014.
|
Canadian dollar |
|
Euro |
|
Malaysian
|
|
Thai
| ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents.................................................................................. |
$ |
10.6 |
|
|
$ |
3.2 |
|
|
$ |
2.1 |
|
|
$ |
0.3 |
|
Account receivable and other financial assets................................................ |
0.1 |
|
|
19.7 |
|
|
0.4 |
|
|
0.2 |
| ||||
Accounts payable and certain accrued and other liabilities and provisions............. |
(46.7) |
|
|
(7.3) |
|
|
(15.7) |
|
|
(17.9) |
| ||||
Net financial assets (liabilities)........................................................................... |
$ |
(36.0) |
|
|
$ |
15.6 |
|
|
$ |
(13.2) |
|
|
$ |
(17.4) |
|