Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure calculated by subtracting property, plant, and equipment additions from operating cash flows.
Refer to the “GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliation,” “Income Taxes,” and “Summary of Cash Flows” sections for reconciliations of our results of operations prepared in accordance with U. S.  GAAP to the adjusted non-GAAP measurements considered by management.
Our fiscal year-end is the last Friday in April, and therefore, the total weeks in a fiscal year can fluctuate between 52 and 53 weeks.
Fiscal year 2016 was a 53-week year, with the additional week occurring in the first quarter.
Fiscal years 2015 and 2014 were 52-week years.
Executive Level Overview Medtronic is among the world’s largest medical technology, services, and solutions companies — alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world.
We employ more than 88,000 full-time employees worldwide, serving physicians, hospitals, and patients in approximately 160 countries.
Our primary products include those for cardiac rhythm disorders, cardiovascular disease, advanced and general surgical care, respiratory and monitoring solutions, neurological disorders, spinal conditions and musculoskeletal trauma, urological and digestive disorders, and ear, nose, and throat and diabetes conditions.
Net income for the fiscal year ended April 29, 2016 was $3.5 billion, $2.48 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $2.7 billion, $2.41 per diluted share, for the fiscal year ended April 24, 2015, representing an increase of 32 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
The table below illustrates net sales by operating segment for fiscal years 2016 and 2015:
## Table 0 ##
(1) The Minimally Invasive Therapies Group was a new group in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 that contains the majority of Covidien’s former operations.
Revenue growth is compared to a full year of operations in fiscal year 2016.
Our performance for the fiscal year ended April 29, 2016 was favorably impacted by an additional selling week during the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 due to our 52/53 week fiscal year calendar.
Currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $1.4 billion on net sales compared to the prior fiscal year.
The Cardiac and Vascular Group’s performance was primarily a result of the addition of the Covidien Peripheral business into the Aortic & Peripheral Vascular division and strong net sales across all three divisions: Cardiac Rhythm & Heart Failure, Coronary & Structural Heart, and Aortic & Peripheral Vascular.
The Surgical Solutions and Patient Monitoring & Recovery divisions, within the Minimally Invasive Therapies Group, contributed $5.3 billion and $4.3 billion of revenue, respectively.
The Restorative Therapies Group’s performance was a result of solid growth in Surgical Technologies, and was favorably impacted by the addition of the Covidien Neurovascular division, partially offset by declines in Spine and Neuromodulation.
The Diabetes Group’s performance was primarily due to growth in international markets, driven by the next-generation MiniMed 640G System with the Enhanced Enlite Sensor.
See our discussion in the “Net Sales” section of this management’s discussion and analysis for more information on the results of our operating segments.
Acquisition of Covidien In fiscal year 2015, we acquired Covidien to continue in our mission to create a medical technology and services company with a comprehensive product portfolio and a broad global reach that is better able to improve healthcare outcomes.
Covidien meaningfully accelerates our core strategies of therapy innovation, globalization and economic value.
The transaction was accounted for as a business combination using the acquisition method of accounting, which requires, among other things, that assets acquired and liabilities assumed be recognized at their fair values at the Acquisition Date.
In fiscal year 2015, interest expense, net was $280 million, as compared to $108 million in fiscal year 2014.
For fiscal year 2015, the increase in interest expense, net was primarily due to the impact of the incremental interest expense resulting from the issuance of $17.0 billion of debt to fund the Covidien acquisition and the $3.0 billion term loan funded in January 2015.
The $17.0 billion debt resulted in $77 million of incremental interest expense in the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 prior to the close of the Covidien transaction.
The Company treated this interest expense item as a Non-GAAP Adjustment.
See our discussion in the “Liquidity and Capital Resources” section of this management’s discussion and analysis for more information regarding our investment portfolio.
## Table 1 ##
Our effective tax rate for fiscal year 2016 was 18.4 percent compared to 23.3 percent in the prior fiscal year.
The decrease in our effective tax rate was due to the net tax impact of inventory step-up, debt tender premium, acquisition-related items, certain tax adjustments, amortization of intangible assets, the impact from the acquisition of Covidien, operational tax benefits described below, and year-over-year changes in operational results by jurisdiction.
Our Non-GAAP Nominal Tax Rate for fiscal year 2016 was 15.8 percent compared to 18.2 percent in the prior fiscal year.
The decrease in our Non-GAAP Nominal Tax Rate for fiscal year 2016 as compared to the prior fiscal year was primarily due to the impact of the Covidien acquisition, operational tax benefits, and year-over-year changes in operational results by jurisdiction.
During fiscal year 2016, we recorded $97 million in operational tax benefits.
The retroactive renewal and extension of the U. S.  federal research and development tax credit resulted in a $16 million operational tax benefit for fiscal year 2016.
In addition, we recorded a $40 million benefit from the reversal of a valuation allowance associated with foreign net operating losses, and a $41 million net benefit associated with the resolution of certain income tax audits, finalization of certain tax returns, and changes to uncertain tax position reserves.
Our effective tax rate for fiscal year 2015 was 23.3 percent compared to 17.3 percent from the prior fiscal year.
The increase in our effective tax rate was due to the net tax impact of special charges (gains), net, restructuring charges, net, certain litigation charges, net, acquisition-related items, certain tax adjustments, the impact from the acquisition of Covidien, the operational tax benefits described below.
Our Non-GAAP Nominal Tax Rate for fiscal year 2015 was 18.2 percent compared to 19.2 percent in the prior fiscal year.
The decrease in our Non-GAAP Nominal Tax Rate for fiscal year 2015 as compared to the prior fiscal year was primarily due to the impact of the Covidien acquisition, operational tax benefits described below, and year-over-year changes in operational results by jurisdiction.
During fiscal year 2015, we recorded $33 million in operational tax benefits.
The retroactive renewal and extension of the U. S.  federal research and development tax credit resulted in a $12 million operational tax benefit for fiscal year 2015.
In addition, we recorded a $9 million benefit associated with foreign dividend distributions, and a $12 million net benefit associated with the resolution of certain income tax audits, finalization of certain tax returns, and changes to uncertain tax position reserves.
An increase in our Non-GAAP Nominal Tax Rate of 1 percent would result in an additional income tax provision for the fiscal years ended April 29, 2016 and April 24, 2015 of approximately $74 million and $58 million, respectively.
amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discounts and premiums.
The loss on debt extinguishment was recorded in the interest expense in the consolidated statement of income.
In addition to the loss on debt extinguishment, we recognized $20 million of interest expense due to the acceleration of net losses on forward starting interest rate derivatives, which had been terminated at the time of original debt issuances, relating to the portion of debt extinguished in the tender offer.
## Table 2 ##
(1) Agency ratings are subject to change, and there can be no assurance that a ratings agency will continue to provide ratings and/or maintain its current ratings.
A security rating is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities, and may be subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the rating agency, and each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services’ and Moody’s Investors Service long-term debt rating and short-term debt rating at April 29, 2016 were unchanged as compared to the ratings at April 24, 2015.
We do not expect the Moody’s and S&P Ratings Services’ ratings to have a significant impact on our liquidity or future flexibility to access additional liquidity given our balance sheet, our $3.5 billion revolving credit facility and related commercial paper program, discussed above and within the “Debt and Capital” section of this management’s discussion and analysis.
We have future contractual obligations and other minimum commercial commitments that are entered into in the normal course of business.
We believe our off-balance sheet arrangements do not have a material current or anticipated future effect on our consolidated earnings, financial position, and/or cash flows.
Notes 1 and 15 to the consolidated financial statements in “Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K provide information regarding amounts we have accrued related to significant legal proceedings.
In accordance with U. S.  GAAP, we record a liability in our consolidated financial statements for these actions when a loss is known or considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated.
Actual settlements may be different than estimated and could have a material impact on our consolidated earnings, financial position, and/or cash flows.
We provide for tax liabilities in our financial statements with respect to amounts that we expect to repatriate from subsidiaries (to the extent the repatriation would be subject to tax); however, no tax liabilities are recorded for amounts that we consider to be permanently reinvested.
Our current plans do not foresee a need to repatriate funds that are designated as permanently reinvested in order to fund our operations or meet currently anticipated liquidity and capital investment needs.
However, we evaluate our legal entity structure supporting our business operations, and to the extent such evaluation results in a change to our overall business structure, we may be required to accrue for additional tax obligations.
We have investments in marketable debt securities that are classified and accounted for as available-for-sale.
Our debt securities include U. S.  government and agency securities, corporate debt securities, mortgage-backed securities, other asset-backed securities, debt funds, and auction rate securities.
Some of our investments may experience reduced liquidity due to changes in market conditions and investor demand.
Our auction rate security holdings continue to experience reduced liquidity due to low investor demand.
Although our auction rate securities are currently illiquid and other securities could become illiquid, we believe we could liquidate a substantial amount of our portfolio without incurring a material impairment loss.
For the fiscal year ended April 29, 2016, the total other-than-temporary impairment losses on available-for-sale debt securities were not significant.
Based on our assessment of the credit quality of the underlying collateral and credit support available to each of the remaining securities in which we are invested, we believe we have recorded all necessary other-than-temporary impairments as we do not have the intent to sell, nor is it more likely than not that we will be required to sell, before recovery of the amortized cost.
However, as of April 29, 2016, we have $327 million of gross unrealized losses on our aggregate short-term and long-term available-for-sale debt securities of $9.7 billion; if market conditions deteriorate, some of these holdings may experience other-than-temporary impairment in the future which could have a material impact on our financial results.
Interest rates on advances on our $3.5 Billion Revolving Credit Facility are determined by a pricing matrix, based on our longterm debt ratings assigned by S&P Ratings Services and Moody’s.
For additional information on our credit ratings status by S&P Ratings Services and Moody’s refer to “Liquidity and Capital Resources” section of this Management’s Discussion and Analysis.
Facility fees are payable on the credit facility and are determined in the same manner as the interest rates.
The agreements also contain customary covenants, all of which we remain in compliance with as of April 29, 2016.
We utilize Senior Notes that are unsecured, senior obligations that rank equally with all other secured and unsubordinated indebtedness to meet our long-term financing needs.
We use the net proceeds from the sale of the Senior Notes primarily for working capital and general corporate purposes and in the case of Senior Notes issued on December 10, 2014, to finance the Covidien acquisition and related expenses.
Long-term debt as of April 29, 2016 was $30.2 billion compared to $33.8 billion as of April 24, 2015.
The decrease is primarily due to the cash tender offer and redemption of $2.7 billion of senior notes for $3.0 billion of total consideration in April 2016, as discussed within the “Liquidity and Capital Resources” section of this Management’s Discussion and Analysis.
The indentures under which the Senior Notes have been issued contain customary covenants, all of which we remain in compliance with as of April 29, 2016.
On December 10, 2014, we issued seven tranches of the 2015 Senior Notes with an aggregate face value of $17.0 billion.
In addition, on January 26, 2015, we also borrowed $3.0 billion for a term of three years under a term loan agreement.
We used these combined proceeds to fund the $16.0 billion cash consideration portion of the Covidien acquisition, to pay certain transaction and financing expenses, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
For additional information regarding our debt agreements, refer to Note 7 of the consolidated financial statements in “Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements and Long-Term Contractual Obligations Presented below is a summary of contractual obligations and other minimum commercial commitments as of April 29, 2016.
See Notes 7 and 13 to the consolidated financial statements in “Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding long-term debt and lease obligations, respectively.
Additionally, see Note 11 to the consolidated financial statements in “Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding accrued income tax obligations, which are not reflected in the table below.
## Table 3 ##
(1) Certain leases require us to pay real estate taxes, insurance, maintenance, and other operating expenses associated with the leased premises.
These future costs are not included in the schedule above.

<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">Net Sales Fiscal Year</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>(dollars in millions; NM - Not Meaningful)</td><td>2016</td><td>2015</td><td>% Change</td></tr><tr><td>Cardiac and Vascular Group</td><td>$10,196</td><td>$9,361</td><td>9%</td></tr><tr><td>Minimally Invasive Therapies Group<sup>-1</sup></td><td>9,563</td><td>2,387</td><td>301</td></tr><tr><td>Restorative Therapies Group</td><td>7,210</td><td>6,751</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>Diabetes Group</td><td>1,864</td><td>1,762</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>Total Net Sales</td><td>$28,833</td><td>$20,261</td><td>42%</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">Fiscal Year</td></tr><tr><td>(in millions)</td><td>2016</td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td></tr><tr><td>Provision for income taxes</td><td>$798</td><td>$811</td><td>$640</td></tr><tr><td>Income from operations before taxes</td><td>$4,336</td><td>$3,486</td><td>$3,705</td></tr><tr><td>Effective tax rate</td><td>18.4%</td><td>23.3%</td><td>17.3%</td></tr><tr><td>Non-GAAP provision for income taxes</td><td>$1,171</td><td>$1,055</td><td>$971</td></tr><tr><td>Non-GAAP income from operations before taxes</td><td>$7,399</td><td>$5,799</td><td>$5,069</td></tr><tr><td>Non-GAAP Nominal Tax Rate</td><td>15.8%</td><td>18.2%</td><td>19.2%</td></tr><tr><td>Difference between the effective tax rate and Non-GAAP Nominal Tax Rate</td><td>-2.6%</td><td>-5.1%</td><td>1.9%</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">Rating for Fiscal Year Ended<sup>-1</sup></td></tr><tr><td></td><td>April 29, 2016</td><td>April 24, 2015</td></tr><tr><td>Standard & Poor's (S&P) Ratings Services</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Long-term debt</td><td>A</td><td>A</td></tr><tr><td>Short-term debt</td><td>A-1</td><td>A-1</td></tr><tr><td>Moody's Investors Service (Moody's)</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Long-term debt</td><td>A3</td><td>A3</td></tr><tr><td>Short-term debt</td><td>P-2</td><td>P-2</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="7">Maturity by Fiscal Year</td></tr><tr><td>(in millions)</td><td>Total</td><td>2017</td><td>2018</td><td>2019</td><td>2020</td><td>2021</td><td>Thereafter</td></tr><tr><td>Contractual obligations related to off-balance sheet arrangements:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Operating leases<sup>-1</sup></td><td>$544</td><td>$180</td><td>$130</td><td>$90</td><td>$56</td><td>$33</td><td>$55</td></tr><tr><td>Commitments to fund minority investments/contingent acquisition consideration<sup>-2</sup></td><td>520</td><td>89</td><td>72</td><td>155</td><td>48</td><td>41</td><td>115</td></tr><tr><td>Interest payments<sup>-3</sup></td><td>13,925</td><td>1,058</td><td>1,014</td><td>911</td><td>882</td><td>760</td><td>9,300</td></tr><tr><td>Other<sup>-4</sup></td><td>603</td><td>351</td><td>115</td><td>35</td><td>27</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>Contractual obligations related to off-balance sheet arrangements subtotal</td><td>$15,592</td><td>$1,678</td><td>$1,331</td><td>$1,191</td><td>$1,013</td><td>$859</td><td>$9,520</td></tr><tr><td>Contractual obligations reflected in the balance sheet:</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Long-term debt, including current portion<sup>-5</sup></td><td>$30,805</td><td>$887</td><td>$6,188</td><td>$408</td><td>$3,774</td><td>$1,102</td><td>$18,446</td></tr><tr><td>Capital leases</td><td>132</td><td>106</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>Contractual obligations reflected in the balance sheet subtotal</td><td>$30,937</td><td>$887</td><td>$6,188</td><td>$408</td><td>$3,774</td><td>$1,102</td><td>$18,446</td></tr><tr><td>Total contractual obligations</td><td>$46,529</td><td>$2,565</td><td>$7,519</td><td>$1,599</td><td>$4,787</td><td>$1,961</td><td>$27,966</td></tr></table>

Question: What is the growing rate of Interest payments in the year with the most Long-term debt, including current portion ? (in %)
Answer: -0.04159