Revenue and earnings performance

Revenue in the EXPRESS Division declined by 1.7% in 2008 to €13,637 million (previous year: €13,874 million). Business was impacted by negative currency effects amounting to €620 million. Measured in local currencies, we attained organic revenue growth of 2.4%. Revenue outside the US grew by 3.9%, resulting in large part from surcharges we collected for higher fuel costs.

In a deteriorating economic environment, daily shipment volumes in the Time Definite International product line decreased by 2.4% compared with the previous year. The daily volumes in the Time Definite Domestic product line performed well in our regions outside the US and achieved a year-on-year increase of 7.0%. However, this could not fully compensate for the continuing volume decline in the United States.

EXPRESS: revenue by product
€m per day
	2007	2008	+/– %	Q4 2007	Q4 2008	+/– %
Time Definite International	27.3	28.6	4.8	29.0	28.0	–3.4
Time Definite National	10.4	9.8	–5.8	10.8	8.3	–23.1
Day Definite National	10.3	10.1	–1.9	11.2	9.4	–16.1

EXPRESS: volumes by product
thousands of items per day
	2007	2008	+/– %	Q4 2007	Q4 2008	+/– %
Time Definite International	528.6	515.8	–2.4	546.1	501.8	–8.1
Time Definite National	1,355.2	1,193.9	–11.9	1,373.3	944.7	–31.2
Day Definite National	1,327.2	1,250.8	–5.8	1,440.3	1,068.1	–25.8

Revenue in Europe at prior-year level

In Europe, revenue stabilised at €6,631 million, close to the previous year’s figure of €6,667 million. The total figure contains negative currency effects in the amount of €159 million, attributable primarily to our UK and Nordic countries business. The underlying organic growth for the region was 2.1%. The new EU members as well as France and the Scandinavian countries achieved good organic growth in 2008.

Americas impacted by economy and exit from domestic US market

In the year under review, the overall trend in the Americas region was shaped by the poor economic conditions and our gradual exit from the domestic express business in the US. Revenue slipped by 14.5% to €3,559 million (previous year: €4,165 million), including negative currency effects in the amount of €281 million. Measured in local currency, revenue decreased by 7.8%, largely resulting from the ongoing restructuring activities in our US business. Business in Latin America was once again encouraging with organic growth in the double digits. In the United States, however, revenue declined in organic terms year-on-year by 13.4%. Shipment volumes in our domestic product lines were particularly hard hit by the weak US economy and our decision to cease domestic activities.

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