DHL 2014 Annual Report Download - page 100

Further information on the nancial position and nance strategy of the Group
as well as on the management of nancial risks is found in the report on the economic
position and in the Notes.
Opportunities and risks arising from environmental protection
Our Group-wide opportunity and risk management also considers environmental
develop ments.
Our customers want to improve their carbon eciency and be supplied with infor-
mation on their  emissions, which we regard as a positive trend. Such an increase
in environmental awareness presents new business potential: with our mail, parcel
and express products as well as air and ocean freight transport, we not only lead our
industry in the areas of energy-ecient transport, transparent emissions reports and
climate- neutral products, but we also oer customer-specic solutions to reduce carbon
emissions.
Opportunities and risks arising from corporate strategy
Over the past years, the Group has ensured that its business activities are well positioned
in the world’s fastest growing regions and markets. We are also constantly working to
create ecient structures in all areas to enable us to exibly adapt capacities and costs to
demand – a prerequisite for lasting, protable business success. With respect to strategic
orientation, we are focusing on our core competencies in the mail and logistics busi-
nesses with an eye towards growing organically and simplifying our processes for the
benet of our customers. Our earnings projections regularly take account of develop-
ment opportunities arising from our strategic orientation. In the specied period under
consideration, risks arising from the current corporate strategy, which extends over a
long-term period, are considered to have a low relevance for the Group. In addition, the
divisions face the following special situations:
In the PeP division, we are responding to the challenges presented by the structural
change from a physical to a digital business. We are counteracting the risk arising from
changing demand by expanding our range of services. Due to the e-commerce boom,
we expect our parcel business to continue growing robustly in the coming years and are
therefore extending our parcel network. We are also expanding our range of electronic
communications services, securing our standing as the quality leader and, where pos-
sible, making our transport and delivery costs more exible. We follow developments
in the market very closely and take these into account in our earnings projections. For
the specied forecast period, we do not see these developments as having a signicant
potential to result in a negative impact.
In the Express division, our future success depends above all on general factors such
as trends in the competitive environment, costs and quantities transported. Aer having
spent recent years successfully restructuring our business and substantially improv-
ing cost structures, we are focusing on fostering growth in our international business.
We expect a further increase in shipment volumes. Based on this assumption, we are
investing in our network, our services, our employees and the  brand. Against the
backdrop of the past trend and the overall outlook, we do not see any signicant strate-
gic opportunities or risks for the Express division beyond those reported in the section
entitled “Opportunities and risks arising from macroeconomic and industry-specic
conditions”.
Note 
Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
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