These incremental costs were partly offset by elimination of duplicated headroom. The Company issued a thirteen year uncovenanted 225 million Sterling Eurobond, and after the year end launched a new tranche of an existing long-dated bond. Following the issue of this bond, the Group has approximately 1.1billion of available funding sources. It is the Group's policy to have sufficient surplus borrowing headroom such that its development is not constrained. The Group is funded by a mixture of equity, debt, and retained profits.
Debt consists mainly of committed bank facilities and bonds.
The committed bank facilities provide the Group with flexibility for operational requirements and acquisitions. Uncommitted and overdraft facilities are also utilised. The bonds currently in issue consist of three tranches of sterling Eurobonds and one tranche of sterling deep-discount bonds, exchangeable for shares in Reuters Group plc. Maturities of debt are spread in order to avoid the requirement for significant repayments at any point in time, as illustrated in Graph 6. The Group has a preference for non-constraining covenants in return for paying higher interest margins.