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France's Thomson reassures on debt after S&P downgrade

Mon Aug 4, 2008 10:03am EDT

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PARIS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - French media technology group Thomson SA (TMS.PA) on Monday repeated it would meet covenants governing its debt and had the funds to cover its debt obligations.

A Thomson spokeswoman made the comments to Reuters after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured bank loan ratings on Thomson to 'B+' from 'BB-'. [ID:nWLA7549]

Standard & Poor's credit analyst Leandro De Torres Zabala said the downgrade "primarily reflects the deterioration in the group's performance, limited trading and covenant visibility, and high leverage."

A Thomson spokeswoman cited the company's comments when it released first-half earnings on July 24 that it had satisfied debt covenants at June 30 and expected to satisfy them at the end of December.

The spokeswoman also said that, given uncertain credit markets at the end of last year, it took measures in 2007 to secure additional long-term debt facilities.

"This long-term debt and the group's loan facility of 1.75 billion euros should bring sufficient funds to cover short-term and long-term debt obligations in 2008 and 2009, including the repayment of the convertible bond issued to Silver Lake partners," the spokeswoman said. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by David Holmes)



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