DHL 2014 Annual Report Download - page 98

On  June ,  Express France received a Statement of Objections from the
French Competition Authority alleging anti-competitive conduct in the domestic express
business; a business which we had divested in June . We are currently co-operating
with the French authorities regarding the issues raised in the Statement of Objections.
Due to the on-going legal proceedings, we are not providing a risk assessment.
Macroeconomic and industry-specific opportunities and risks
Risks arising from macroeconomic and sector-specic conditions are a key factor in
determining the success of our business. For this reason we pay close attention to eco-
nomic trends in the individual regions. Despite the volatile economic climate, demand
for logistics services rose in , as did the related revenues.
A variety of external factors oer us numerous opportunities, indeed we believe
that the global market will continue to grow. Advancing globalisation means that the
logistics industry will continue to grow at least as fast as or faster than the world econ-
omy as a whole. is is especially true for Asia, where trade ows to other regions and
in particular within the continent will continue to increase. As the market leader, our
 divisions can generate above-average benets from this. is also applies to regions
such as South America and the Middle East, which continue to see robust growth. We
are similarly well positioned in the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China
and Mexico + and will take advantage of opportunities arising in these markets.
Whether and to what extent the logistics market will grow is dependent on a num-
ber of factors. e trend towards outsourcing business processes continues. As a result,
supply chains are becoming more complex and more international but are also more
prone to disruption. For this reason, customers want stable, integrated logistics solutions,
which is what we provide with our broad-based service portfolio. We continue to see
growth opportunities in this area, in particular in the Supply Chain division and as a
result of closer co-operation between all our divisions.
e booming online marketplace represents another opportunity for us in that it is
creating demand for transporting documents and goods. e  market is experiencing
double-digit growth, particularly due to the rapid rise in digital retail trade. is has
created high growth potential for the national and international parcel business, which
we intend to tap into by expanding our parcel network.
On the other hand, we are nonetheless unable to rule out the possibility of an eco-
nomic downturn in specic regions and a stagnation or decrease in transport quantities.
However, this would not reduce demand for our services in all business units. Indeed,
the opposite eect could arise in the parcel business, for example, as a result of an in-
crease in online purchasing amongst consumers. Companies might also be forced to out-
source transport services in order to lower costs. Cyclical risks can aect our divisions
dierently with respect to magnitude as well as point in time, which may mitigate the
total eect. erefore, we consider these risks to be medium at best. Moreover, we have
taken measures in recent years to make costs more exible and to allow us to respond
quickly to a change in market demand.
Glossary, page 
Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
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