DHL 2012 Annual Report Download - page 110

International express business will remain stable
Experience shows that growth in the international express market is highly depend-
ent on the general economy. Despite the restrained projections for overall economic
growth, however, we are optimistic, in light of the trend in volumes, that the express
market will remain stable in .
By using programmes to increase eciency and quality as well as cost management
we shall continue improving our earnings. We are condent that we shall remain on a
growth path and defend or even further strengthen our leading market position.
Moderate market growth in the freight forwarding business
Air freight load factors stabilised in the reporting year, whilst freight aircra util-
isation declined. We expect this trend to continue in .
Ocean freight capacities are increasing because new ships are being put into oper-
ation. However, market capacities are likely to be managed in such a way as to keep
freight rates stable.
As in the reporting year, we expect European road transport volumes to grow
slightly at best or even stagnate in , which reects the very cautious economic
forecasts for the region.
Supply Chain market remains robust
e trend towards outsourcing warehouse and distribution services continues. For
this reason, projections indicate that the market for contract logistics will continue to
experience stable growth of more than  . Especially in periods of economic weakness
with high cost pressure and increasingly complex supply chains, many companies prefer
to outsource their logistics. Demand for Supply Chain services is expected to see par-
ticularly strong growth in emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico,
where we benet from our strong market position.
e market for business process outsourcing is also expected to grow further. For
the Williams Lea business unit, we anticipate strong growth on the basis of our power-
ful oering and the increasing development of our broad  customer base. Our
Marketing Solutions business is likely to develop particularly well as it benets from
the acquisition of Tag in .
Although the economic climate remains uncertain, we are ensuring by means of
our Growth rough Excellence strategy that we shall continue to take advantage of
our strengths – extensive reach and mature sector expertise – to protably grow both
new and existing business.
Revenue and earnings forecast
Expectations regarding how the global economy will perform in  remain cau-
tious and at the lower end of the long-term trend. As in the previous year, the economy
is likely to grow by approximately  . As opposed to , however, momentum should
pick up as the year progresses. e global trading volumes relevant to our business are
expected to perform similarly. We are therefore anticipating a corresponding revenue
trend, with increasing revenue, particularly in the  divisions.
Deutsche Post DHL Annual Report 
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