Aryzta moves to shore up finances amid Covid-19 uncertainty

Swiss-Irish bakery group Aryzta said on Monday that the majority of its lenders have agreed an amendment to its financial covenants. The move is aimed at providing the Cuisine de France maker with increased headroom in the coming year to deal with continuing uncertainty around and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The group has been hit hard by coronavirus, particularly in the US, as it supplies a host of quick-serve chains, among them McDonald's and Subway, which found themselves under lockdown at the peak of the pandemic.

The amendment will apply to the two covenant tests relating to the interim financial statements as of January 2021 and to the annual financial statements of July 2021. In each case, the net debt: earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation coverage ratio shall be lower or equal to 6.0x and the net interest coverage ratio shall be greater than 1.0x.