As we have continued to strengthen our earnings, our capital needs have remained relatively stable, which has helped us deliver strong free cash flow for the past several years. In fiscal 2007, we generated roughly $3.8 billion in free cash flow.
Disney’s strong cash flow performance contributes to our Company’s tremendous financial flexibility. Over the last several years, we have strengthened our debt ratios, even as we have returned substantial capital to our shareholders through share repurchase and dividends. As a result, our long term credit ratings were recently upgraded to A2/A from A3/A- by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, respectively. We enjoy an attractive average effective yield on our debt portfolio of just under 5%, with a weighted average maturity of about 8 years.5
4 Free cash flow is not a financial measure defined by GAAP. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to equivalent GAAP financial measures are available at the end of this Financial Review.
5 These figures exclude the debt of Euro Disney and Hong Kong Disneyland, which had an average effective yield of 5.63% with a weighted average maturity of 11.6 years.
6 Net Borrowings and net borrowings excluding Euro Disney and Hong Kong Disneyland are not financial measures defined by GAAP. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to equivalent GAAP financial measures are available at the end of this Financial Review.
