DHL 2008 Annual Report Download - page 23

 February 
Financial year 
Frank Appel
Chief Executive Offi cer
Deutsche Post AG
One year into my chairmanship of the Board of Management, the Group has carved out a clear
path for continued success. We have initiated steps to sell Postbank and to restructure the 
express business, consistently implemented the Roadmap to Value and prepared ourselves for
the impacts of the global economic crisis.
For Postbank, we have found the perfect partner in Deutsche Bank. Our thorough analyses and
sound decision-making processes have paid o , and we established attractive conditions for the
transaction despite the di cult market climate.
 e second decision of great consequence concerned our  express business. In May, we began
to restructure the business from the ground up in order to minimise losses that were no longer
acceptable. Nevertheless, the weak  economy and declining shipment volumes have since then
forced us to take even more drastic measures. In November, we decided to focus our express busi-
ness in the  on our international o ering and to exit the domestic business.  is was certainly
one of the most di cult decisions I have had to take in my management career to date.
 e current economic crisis has taught us that we must do more to safeguard the future of our
Group. With our Roadmap to Value capital markets programme, we are already well underway.
As a result of the programme’s initiatives, we have achieved encouraging growth rates in the
emerging economies, cut costs and made operational improvements. We increased our reporting
transparency by now reporting the logistics business units separately and our  nancial position is
stable. Net cash from operating activities increased signi cantly, whilst working capital declined.
 anks to these e orts, we have met our adjusted target for the period. Earnings from operating
activities before non-recurring items (excluding Postbank) were just above our target of  . billion.
However, non-recurring items impacted our earnings.  e repayment from the German govern-
ment awarded as a result of the state aid proceedings boosted earnings, whilst the restructuring
costs for the  express business and a write-down on the goodwill of    
undermined our bottom line. Adjusted for non-recurring items, we are reporting a loss. 
(excluding Postbank) declined to  –  million; the Group generated a consolidated net loss
for the period of  . billion.
 
Postal address
Deutsche Post AG
Headquarters
53250 Bonn, GERMANY
Business address
Deutsche Post AG
Headquarters
Charles-de-Gaulle-Straße 20
53113 Bonn, GERMANY
Visitors’ address
Deutsche Post AG
Headquarters
Platz der Deutschen Post
53113 Bonn, GERMANY
Phone + 49 228 182 -90 00
Fax + 49 228 182 -70 60
www.deutschepost.de