DHL 1998 Annual Report Download - page 52

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 52 of the 1998 DHL annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 93

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93

Turnabout in sales and revenue
Following a year of stagnation, regional expansion and efforts to enlarge
our range of products led to an increase in sales and revenue in the Inter-
national division in 1998.Revenue grew by 3.3 per cent while sales increased
by 3.9 per cent.
Letter mail business stabilized
We were able to stabilize revenue in the international letter mail area in
1998 – and even raise it by 0.8 per cent over 1997’s level. Sales volume
increased by a satisfactory 3.9 per cent. All in all, sales in the business
customer segment grew more than in the private customer segment.
Written communication in the private customer segment is seeing a large
degree of substitution through electronic media. Despite this trend, it was
possible to stabilize sales generated by private letter mail customers. Since
the letter mail market for private customers is expected to stagnate over the
medium term, communication and target group cultivation which injects
an emotional element into the notion of communicating by letter are to be
stepped up.
Our subsidiary International Mail Service develops new services for our
international letter mail business customers and markets our letter prod-
ucts worldwide.Despite increasingly tough competition, we were even able
to exceed planned increases in sales for letters mailed in Germany. Our
“Kilo Tariff Letters”and “Infopost”addressed bulk mail products were very
successfully positioned in the market. New direct marketing concepts were
responsible for this success in the Infopost field. We also increased business
customer sales in the Corporate Communication, Direct Mail and Press
Distribution product fields once again in 1998.
Revenue – INTERNATIONAL*
in DM mil.
1995 1996 1997 1998
1.3 % – 0.0% 3.3% * *
2,055 2,081 2,079 2,172
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
* ) Excluding subsidiaries
* * ) Due to reorganization, growth rates calculated on a
comparable basis
Sales – INTERNATIONAL*
inunitsmil.
1995 1996 1997 1998
13.1% – 0.4 % 3.9% * *
1,005 1,137 1,132 1,176
1,300
1,200
1,100
1,000
900
* ) Excluding subsidiaries
* * ) Due to reorganization, growth rates calculated on a
comparable basis
48
Participations in a
number of countries
including Poland,
Great Britain, Italy
and Switzerland
divisionINTERNATIONAL