DHL 2002 Annual Report Download - page 101

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Special factors
On completion of the restructuring program, the negative
goodwill of the Deutsche Postbank group previously carried
under intangible assets was reversed in full to income as of
December 31, 2002. Income from this exceptional reversal
amounted to €1,287 million and is disclosed in full in the
Other/Consolidation segment in our segment reporting to
enhance transparency.
Another special factor resulted from the transfer of
real estate of Deutsche Post AG to a German Pension Trust
(Deutsche Post Pensionsfonds GbR). €221 million was real-
ized from the disposal of items of noncurrent assets resulting
from the transfer of this real estate to the Pension Trust. Fur-
ther details on the Pension Trust can be found in note 37.
We presented our STAR value creation program in
fiscal year 2002. This aims to fundamentally restructure
Deutsche Post World Net. Provisions of €1,077 million
were recognized in this context for headcount reduction
measures, early termination penalties payable due to the
early termination of contracts, and the abandonment of
assets and the resulting impairment losses. The objective of
our STAR measures is to reduce and merge capacities at
our European locations as part of the integration of Danzas,
DHL and the Euro Express companies. Because this is a
cross-segment value creation program, the expense from
recognition of the provision is presented under Other/
Consolidation in our segment reporting. Further details
can be found in note 39.
Under the terms of certain leasing transactions
(qualified technical equipment – QTE leases), Deutsche Post
AG leased the electronic sorting systems at mail and freight
centers to various US companies. They are accounted for
in accordance with SIC-27. Deutsche Post AG remains the
beneficial and legal owner of all the assets included in the
transactions when the contracts are entered into, and they
remain available to the Company for its operating activities
without any material restrictions.
8Because the criteria set out in SIC-27.8 are met,
the net present value benefit from the transactions was rec-
ognized immediately. This produced income of €136 million
(previous year: €29 million), which was recognized in
income in the MAIL and EXPRESS segments. This income
is partially offset by expenses amounting to €40 million
(previous year: €6 million).
A further special factor resulted from the application
of IAS 19 at Van Gend & Loos B.V. (VGL). VGL has defined
benefit plans that are funded through an independent
pension fund. The positive development of the assets of
the defined benefit plans resulted in a gain of €44.2 million,
which was recognized in the income statement. Certain
other Dutch Group companies are also involved in the
pension fund to a minor extent in addition to VGL. The
one-time gain for these companies amounted to €17 million.
Consolidated net profit was depressed by an extra-
ordinary expense amounting to €907 million (see note 22).
This resulted from the ruling by the European Commission
on June 19, 2002 that Deutsche Post was required to repay
€572 million plus interest of €335 million to the German
government. The ruling by the European Commission is a
unilateral act of law that imposes an obligation on Deutsche
Post AG; on the basis of the grounds given by the European
Commission in its ruling, it relates to matters in conjunction
with the formation of Deutsche Post AG as of January 1, 1995.
The Commission is alleging that Deutsche Post received
illegal state subsidies in this amount and illegally used this
money to offset loss-making business customer parcels
activities between 1994 and 1998. This amount, totaling €907
million, is reported under other liabilities. The aggregate
amount of around €907 million is reported as an extra-
ordinary expense in the consolidated income statement.
The liability was settled in January 2003.