DHL 2004 Annual Report Download - page 61

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Postbank’s return on equity (RoE) before taxes rose year-on-year from 10.7% to
13.7%. The cost/income ratio also improved, with a significant decrease from 76.1% to
68.7% in traditional banking transactions. Including our Transaction Banking activities,
the ratio amounted to 70.8%.
Postbank’s tier 1 ratio was calculated according to the standards laid down by the
Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for the first time. The figure calculated in this
way amounted to 8.5% for 2004 compared with the prior-year figure of 8.3%, which is
based on adjusted internal calculations.
Deutsche Postbank AG publishes its own annual report, which describes the develop-
ment of its business in 2004 in detail.
STAR continues successful development
Measures taken as part of our integration and value creation program made a contribu-
tion to earnings of € 439 million in the fiscal year. During the year, we had increased our
forecast of the cumulative earnings attributable to STAR since the start of the program
in November 2002 by €100 million to at least € 800 million. In fact, we had actually
achieved € 862 million by the year-end.
Investment in infrastructure
The Group’s capital expenditure amounted to a cumulative total at December 2004 of
€1,718 million, around 20% higher than the corresponding figure for the previous year.
To a large extent, this was accounted for by the development of our network structures.
In the MAIL Corporate Division, for example, we invested in particular in vehicles
and technical equipment. The EXPRESS Corporate Division saw the expansion of our
transshipment facilities and the data center in Prague, as well as of our vehicle fleet. We
also pushed ahead with the integration of Airborne Inc. in the USA. In the LOGISTICS
Corporate Division, we invested primarily in multi-user warehouses*, as well as main-
taining and improving our production facilities. The FINANCIAL SERVICES Corporate
Division expanded and modernized its IT systems.
Investments in companies fell by 41.8% to € 793 million, since in the period under
review they consisted only of a number of smaller acquisitions and increases in share-
holdings.
Outstanding DHL brand management
We had already begun relaunching the DHL brand at an international level in 2003. We
continued these measures in the year under review, with the aim of establishing cus-
tomer awareness of DHL’s new strategic orientation. In a record time of less than
24 months, we prepared all buildings, vehicles and other equipment for the new launch
of the brand. The advertising campaign was conducted nationally and internationally
under the tried and tested concept “more”, an idea which highlights the increased bene-
fits to customers resulting from the brand relaunch; the focus was on more international
connections, more reliability and more speed.
DHL won the renowned “Superbrands” award in several countries in 2004 for its
outstanding brand management.
Business Developments
* These terms are explained in the Glossary
Capital expenditure (capex):
investments in property, plant
and equipment and intangible
assets (excluding goodwill).
57
Group Management ReportGroup Management ReportConsolidated Financial StatementsAdditional Information