More than half of analysts – 63%, compared with 75% the year before – still advised investors to buy Deutsche Post shares, 23% to hold and 14% to sell. Their average price target was down from €26 to €14 per share.
Our ownership structure has scarcely changed from a year ago: KfW continues to hold 30.5%, leaving a 69.5% free float, the largest share of which (35%) is held in the USA. In response to this trend, our Investor Relations department has had an office in New York from the beginning of 2009.
Investors showed particular interest during the year under review in the situation in the US express business, the future of Postbank, the issue of minimum wages in the German postal sector and progress on the Roadmap to Value. Our investor relations team and management communicated intensively and successfully with investors and analysts at international conferences and in numerous one-on-one meetings. We took first place in the transport sector in the highly regarded Pan-European Survey published by Thomson Reuters Surveys. The jury voted both Frank Appel best CEO and John Allan best CFO in the sector.