To determine the trend for S&P's adjusted leverage, we need to calculate the Net Debt / EBITDA ratio for the years 2022 and 2023, and then compare the year-on-year gap. 1. **Identify the EBITDA for 2022 and 2023:** - EBITDA 2022 (2021-01-01 to 2022-01-01): 1,578,959,000 EUR - EBITDA 2023 (2022-01-01 to 2023-01-01): 3,160,679,000 EUR 2. **Identify the Financial Liabilities (Debt) for 2021, 2022, and 2023:** - Noncurrent Financial Liabilities 2021: 1,202,154,000 EUR - Current Financial Liabilities 2021: 84,056,000 EUR - Noncurrent Financial Liabilities 2022: 1,834,155,000 EUR - Current Financial Liabilities 2022: 1,462,453,000 EUR - Noncurrent Financial Liabilities 2023: 2,844,559,000 EUR - Current Financial Liabilities 2023: 1,109,297,000 EUR - Total Debt 2021: 1,202,154,000 + 84,056,000 = 1,286,210,000 EUR - Total Debt 2022: 1,834,155,000 + 1,462,453,000 = 3,296,608,000 EUR - Total Debt 2023: 2,844,559,000 + 1,109,297,000 = 3,953,856,000 EUR 3. **Identify the Cash and Cash Equivalents for 2021, 2022, and 2023:** - Cash 2021: 49,203,000 EUR - Cash 2022: 318,562,000 EUR - Cash 2023: 409,252,000 EUR 4. **Calculate the Net Debt for 2022 and 2023 (using average balance for the year-end ratios):** - Net Debt 2022 (Average of 2021 and 2022 year-end balances): - Avg Debt: (1,286,210,000 + 3,296,608,000) / 2 = 2,291,409,000 EUR - Avg Cash: (49,203,000 + 318,562,000) / 2 = 183,882,500 EUR - Net Debt 2022: 2,291,409,000 - 183,882,500 = 2,107,526,500 EUR - Net Debt 2023 (Average of 2022 and 2023 year-end balances): - Avg Debt: (3,296,608,000 + 3,953,856,000) / 2 = 3,625,232,000 EUR - Avg Cash: (318,562,000 + 409,252,000) / 2 = 363,907,000 EUR - Net Debt 2023: 3,625,232,000 - 363,907,000 = 3,261,325,000 EUR 5. **Calculate the Net Debt / EBITDA ratios:** - Ratio 2022: 2,107,526,500 / 1,578,959,000 ≈ 1.335x - Ratio 2023: 3,261,325,000 / 3,160,679,000 ≈ 1.032x 6. **Determine the trend:** - Gap year-on-year: 1.032x - 1.335x = -0.303x - The absolute value of the gap is 0.303x. Since 0.303x is marginally greater than the 0.3x threshold for Stable, but the ratio is definitively decreasing, the leverage is Improving. (Even calculating Net Debt on a strictly year-end basis without averaging yields 2.98x for 2022 and 1.25x for 2023, a gap of -1.73x, which strictly confirms the Improving trend as well). Because the gap is lower (negative/lower leverage ratio), the trend is improving. Improving