DHL 1999 Annual Report Download - page 31

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30
Intercontinental business segment due to subdued eco-
nomic activity, the second half more than made up for
the first. Business activity exhibited strong momentum
toward the close of the year in Europe and the Far East
in particular. Thanks to its integration of ASG, Euro-
cargo posted a quantum leap, profiting from its now
seamless European network. Gratifyingly few cus-
tomers were lost following ASG’s integration. Currently
in the process of being built up, the solutions business
surged,fueled by both internal and external growth.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
The FINANCIAL SERVICES corporate division funda-
mentally consists of Postbank which became a fully-
owned Deutsche Post subsidiary on January 1, 1999. It
was joined by DSL Bank on January 1, 2000. The acqui-
sition of DSL Bank constitutes an optimal combination
of core competences. Being a multichannel bank, Post-
bank has a special focus on the private customer seg-
ment, whereas DSL Bank specializes in private and
commercial building loans. As a result, we have a solid
foundation for expanding our lending business even
further.With DSL Bank’s strengths in the lending busi-
ness, Postbank can now optimize the asymmetrical
structure of its balance sheet.
In its first year, the FINANCIAL SERVICES corporate
division posted an operating profit before amortization
of goodwill of EUR 66.7 million. Postbank increasingly
made a name for itself not only in its traditional busi-
ness segments but also in profitable segments which
were new to it,such as building loans and private lend-
ing. The number of installment loans granted in 1999
was up 100 percent over the previous year. Together
with its collaborating partner Bausparkasse Wüstenrot
and the PB Versicherung joint venture, Postbank offers
customers both home loans and savings products as
well as insurance policies. Some EUR 500 million in
home loan and savings contracts were concluded last
year, double the amount in 1998.With stocks becoming
an increasingly popular form of investment, it was pos-
sible to expand our mutual fund business, reaching a
volume of EUR 10.7 billion for all mutual funds
together.
External sales and revenue, repectively, generated by
the FINANCIAL SERVICES corporate division topped
EUR 2.9 billion in 1999.
7. Risk report
It is our aim to identify as early as possible all opportu-
nities and risks in the international and national letter
mail, parcel/express and logistics service markets and
for financial services so that we can initiate appropriate
action without delay.
The fundamental risks to the company arise from the
liberalization of the German and European postal
markets and from the infrastructure tasks stipulated by
Germany’s Postal Act. We are countering these risks
with:
A comprehensive strategic reorganization of the Group
in order to become less dependent on political or reg-
ulatory control – and a realignment of our operating
business toward even greater customer orientation.
In concrete terms,the following risks can be identified:
Market growth
Looking at growth in the letter mail market, it is possi-
ble that conventional letter mail volumes could stagnate
as the volume of electronic communication increases.
To offset this trend, we are launching growth strategies
in the direct marketing field, customized full-service
products and special strategies for the e-Business
opportunities in the letter mail area – such as data base
marketing.