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Item 3 — Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Liberty Global Ltd. · 10-Q · Q2 FY2026 · Period ended Jun 30, 2026
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General
The capitalized terms used below have been defined in the notes to our condensed consolidated financial statements. In the following text, the terms “we,” “our,” “our company” and “us” may refer, as the context requires, to Liberty Global or collectively to Liberty Global and its subsidiaries.
We are exposed to market risk in the normal course of our business operations due to our investments in various foreign countries and ongoing investing and financing activities. Market risk refers to the risk of loss arising from adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and stock prices. The risk of loss can be assessed from the perspective of adverse changes in fair values, cash flows and future earnings. As further described below, we have established policies, procedures and processes governing our management of market risks and the use of derivative instruments to manage our exposure to such risks.
The information in this section should be read in conjunction with the more complete discussion that appears under Part II, Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk in our 2025 10-K. The following discussion updates selected numerical information to June 30, 2026.
Unless otherwise indicated, convenience translations into U.S. dollars are calculated as of June 30, 2026.
Cash
We invest our cash in highly liquid instruments that meet high credit quality standards. We are exposed to exchange rate risk to the extent that the denominations of our cash and cash equivalent balances, revolving lines of credit and other short-term sources of liquidity do not correspond to the denominations of our and our subsidiaries’ short-term liquidity requirements. In order to mitigate this risk, we actively manage the denominations of our cash balances in light of our and our subsidiaries’ forecasted liquidity requirements. At June 30, 2026, $1,182.6 million or 48.9%, $1,008.0 million or 41.7% and $226.1 million or 9.3% of our consolidated cash balance was denominated in U.S. dollars, euros and British Pound Sterling, respectively.
Foreign Currency Risk
We are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risk with respect to our consolidated debt in situations where our debt is denominated in a currency other than the functional currency of the operations whose cash flows support our ability to repay or refinance such debt. For information regarding our use of derivative instruments to manage our foreign currency exchange rate risk, see note 6 to our condensed consolidated financial statements.
The relationships between the primary currencies of the countries in which we operate and the U.S. dollar, which is our reporting currency, are shown below, per one U.S. dollar:
June 30, 2026 December 31, 2025
Spot rates:
Euro 0.8761 0.8521
British pound sterling 0.7547 0.7434
Three months ended June 30, Six months ended June 30,
2026 2025 2026 2025
Average rates:
Euro 0.8600 0.8817 0.8571 0.9159
British pound sterling 0.7449 0.7488 0.7434 0.7712
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Inflation and Foreign Investment Risk
We are subject to inflationary pressures with respect to labor, programming and other costs. While we attempt to increase our revenue to offset increases in costs, there is no assurance that we will be able to do so. Therefore, costs could rise faster than associated revenue, thereby resulting in a negative impact on our operating results, cash flows and liquidity. The economic environment in the respective countries in which we operate is a function of government, economic, fiscal and monetary policies and various other factors beyond our control that could lead to inflation. We are unable to predict the extent that price levels might be impacted in future periods by the current state of the economies in the countries in which we operate.
Interest Rate Risks
We are exposed to changes in interest rates primarily as a result of our borrowing activities, which include fixed-rate and variable-rate borrowings by our borrowing groups. Our primary exposure to variable-rate debt is through the EURIBOR-indexed and Term SOFR-indexed debt of our borrowing groups and the variable-rate debt of certain of our other subsidiaries.
We use benchmark interest rates to set floating rates on our debt and derivative instruments. For USD, these reference the Secured Overnight Financing Rate administered by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or Term SOFR administered by CME Group Benchmark Administration Limited. For EUR, these reference EURIBOR administered by the European Money Markets Institute. For GBP, these reference the Sterling Overnight Index Average administered by the Bank of England.
Weighted Average Variable Interest Rate. At June 30, 2026, the outstanding principal amount of our variable-rate indebtedness aggregated $6.7 billion, and the weighted average interest rate (including margin) on such variable-rate indebtedness was approximately 5.3%, excluding the effects of interest rate derivative contracts, deferred financing costs, original issue premiums or discounts and commitment fees, all of which affect our overall cost of borrowing. Assuming no change in the amount outstanding, and without giving effect to any interest rate derivative contracts, deferred financing costs, original issue premiums or discounts and commitment fees, a hypothetical 50 basis point (0.50%) increase (decrease) in our weighted average variable interest rate would increase (decrease) our annual consolidated interest expense and cash outflows by $33.5 million. As discussed above and in note 6 to our condensed consolidated financial statements, we use interest rate derivative contracts to manage our exposure to increases in variable interest rates. In this regard, increases in the fair value of these contracts generally would be expected to offset most of the economic impact of increases in the variable interest rates applicable to our indebtedness to the extent and during the period that principal amounts are matched with interest rate derivative contracts.
In general, we enter into derivative instruments to protect against increases in the interest rates on our variable-rate debt. Accordingly, we have entered into various derivative transactions to manage exposure to increases in interest rates. We use interest rate derivative contracts to exchange, at specified intervals, the difference between fixed and variable interest rates calculated by reference to an agreed upon notional principal amount. From time to time, we also use interest rate cap, floor and collar agreements that lock in a maximum interest rate if variable rates rise, but also allow our company to benefit, to a limited extent in the case of collars, from declines in market rates. Under our current guidelines, we use various interest rate derivative instruments to mitigate interest rate risk. The final maturity dates of our various portfolios of interest rate derivative instruments might, in some instances, fall short of, or extend further than, the respective maturities of the underlying variable-rate debt. In this regard, we use judgment to determine the appropriate composition and maturity dates of our portfolios of interest rate derivative instruments, taking into account the relative costs and benefits of different maturity profiles in light of current and expected future market conditions, liquidity issues and other factors. For additional information concerning the impacts of these interest rate derivative instruments, see note 6 to our condensed consolidated financial statements.
Sensitivity Information
Information concerning the sensitivity of the fair value of certain of our more significant derivative instruments to changes in market conditions is set forth below. The potential changes in fair value set forth below do not include any amounts associated with the remeasurement of the derivative asset or liability into the applicable functional currency, or the impact of market moves on our credit and debit valuation adjustments. For additional information, see notes 6 and 7 to our condensed consolidated financial statements.
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Telenet Cross-currency and Interest Rate Derivative Contracts
Holding all other factors constant, at June 30, 2026:
(i)an instantaneous increase (decrease) of 10% in the value of the euro relative to the U.S. dollar would have decreased (increased) the aggregate fair value of the Telenet cross-currency and interest rate derivative contracts by approximately €297 million ($339 million); and
(ii)an instantaneous increase in the relevant base rate of 50 basis points (0.50%) would have increased the aggregate fair value of the Telenet cross-currency and interest rate derivative contracts by approximately €51 million ($58 million) and, conversely, a decrease of 50 basis points would have decreased the aggregate fair value by approximately €52 million ($59 million).
Projected Cash Flows Associated with Derivative Instruments
The following table provides information regarding the projected cash flows associated with our derivative instruments. The U.S. dollar equivalents presented below are based on interest rate projections and exchange rates as of June 30, 2026. These amounts are presented for illustrative purposes only and will likely differ from the actual cash payments or receipts required in future periods. For additional information regarding our derivative instruments, see note 6 to our condensed consolidated financial statements.
Payments (receipts) due during: Total
Remainderof 2026
2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 Thereafter
in millions
Projected derivative cash payments (receipts), net:
Interest-related (a) $ 43.5 $ (146.9) $ (98.4) $ (24.0) $ 1.6 $ 0.9 $ 2.5 $ (220.8)
Principal-related (b) — — 42.9 — — — — 42.9
Other (c) (1.2) — (1.0) (1.6) (0.3) (0.2) — (4.3)
Total $ 42.3 $ (146.9) $ (56.5) $ (25.6) $ 1.3 $ 0.7 $ 2.5 $ (182.2)
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(a)Includes (i) the cash flows of our interest rate cap, floor and swap contracts and (ii) the interest-related cash flows of our cross-currency and interest rate swap contracts.
(b)Includes the principal-related cash flows of our cross-currency swap contracts.
(c)Includes amounts related to our foreign currency forward contracts.