In the EXPRESS Division capex increased year-on-year from €572 million to €721 million. The 2007 capex was mainly allocated to advanced payments and property, plant and equipment under development (€162 million), investments in machinery and equipment (€161 million), aircraft (€117 million), IT equipment (€72 million) and leasehold improvements (€63 million). Focusing on a single investment shows that substantial resources were spent on building the new European hub at Leipzig/Halle airport. Also in Europe, we renewed our vehicle fleet in several countries and improved the technical assets of the national express centres, primarily in the Netherlands and Ireland.

Investments in the Asia Pacific region centred on Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan and India. Whilst we extended our hub at the international airport in Hong Kong, we are establishing operating facilities as well as modernising and relocating branches and representative offices in China and Korea. In Japan, we are constructing hubs at the international airports in Osaka and Nagoya, and we have renewed our national air fleet in India. In the EEMEA region, we focused on Russia, which is a growth market. We enlarged the vehicle fleet there as well. Our international aircraft fleet also accounted for significant investment.