13. Trade Receivables

As of the balance sheet date, the maturity structure of the current trade receivables was as follows:

Except for the common lien on receivables from the delivery of goods, the company’s receivables are not collateralised. In accordance with the revenue structure, most of the presented receivables are receivables from the delivery of goods. The company is thus exposed to the risk of default up to the carrying amount. In the past, Bechtle suffered minor defaults of individual customers and customer groups. To hedge the general credit risk, reasonable provisions for bad debts are made on the basis of probabilities of default of a rating agency in the context of the ECL model. In the case of customers for whom no rating is available, the value adjustment is recognised on the basis of an average default risk. So far, the difficult political and economic circumstances have not resulted in any increased defaults. However, it remains to be seen how the default rate will continue to develop against the backdrop of the ongoing difficult economic situation.

The decline in impairment was due to the improved rating of our customers in rating classes with a lower probability of default. Due to the very low probability of default and the very high creditworthiness, no impairment is applied to receivables from public-sector clients. The probabilities of default and the gross carrying amounts per rating class are listed in the following chart:

The impairment of trade receivables developed as follows:

Expenses from the immediate write-off of trade receivables amounted to €4,383 thousand (previous year: €3,258 thousand). The derecognised receivables are still subject to enforcement measures. Income from payments received on derecognised receivables amounted to €293 thousand at the end of the year (previous year: €377 thousand). Expenses and income are netted and recognised under other operating expenses.

For disclosures under IFRS 7, trade receivables are, depending on their maturity, allocated to the classes “current trade receivables” (€1,312,454 thousand, previous year: €1,112,619 thousand) and “non-current trade receivables” (€21,505 thousand, previous year: €20,707 thousand) as well as the classes “current lease receivables” (€35,902 thousand, previous year: €41,136 thousand) and “non-current lease receivables” (€38,716 thousand, previous year: €39,458 thousand).