Let's reason through this. **Step 1 – Understand what matters for Moody’s adjusted leverage trend** Moody’s adjusted leverage typically looks at debt relative to earnings, often with adjustments for leases, pensions, and sometimes off-balance-sheet items. The key inputs from this data are: - **Net debt** increased sharply. 2021 → 2022: Net debt went from €941M to €7,440M. - **Earnings (Operating profit or EBITDA proxy)** Operating profit (recurring) went from €1,693M (2021) to €1,962M (2022), an increase of about 16%. - **Depreciation & Amortization** Up from €2,065M to €2,228M. We can estimate a rough EBITDA: 2021: Operating profit €1,693M + D&A €2,065M = €3,758M 2022: Operating profit €1,962M + D&A €2,228M = €4,190M **Step 2 – Leverage calculation** Leverage ratio (Net Debt / EBITDA): 2021: 941 / 3,758 ≈ 0.25x 2022: 7,440 / 4,190 ≈ 1.78x That’s a substantial increase. **Step 3 – Why this happened** Despite higher operating profit, the net debt jumped mainly because of large acquisitions (investing cash flow of −€8,631M in 2022 vs −€1,243M in 2021), financed by new borrowings. **Step 4 – Conclusion on trend** Leverage ratios have clearly worsened (increased), so the adjusted leverage trend is **deteriorating**. Deteriorating