Since we intend to increase our reporting transparency as part of the Roadmap to Value, we are now separating the coverage of our performance by product group. Our main product lines, Time Definite and Day Definite, meet our customers’ varying requirements for speed of delivery.

Revenue in the EXPRESS Division climbed by 1.0% to €3,367 million in the first three months. Since more than half of this was generated in countries outside the euro zone, however, currency effects decreased revenue substantially, by €225 million. Measured in local currencies, we attained organic revenue growth of 6.5%, driven by increasing shipment volumes both internationally (2.5% more time-definite shipments per day) and domestically (0.7% and 7.4% more time-definite and day-definite shipments per day respectively). We were also able to pass on the increase in fuel costs to our customers by way of a higher surcharge, which accounted for about half of the organic revenue growth.

Revenue in Europe increased by 4.4% to €1,669 million (previous year: €1,598 million). The total contains negative currency effects in the amount of €31 million, attributable chiefly to our UK business. The underlying organic growth for the region was 3.6%. The new EU member states as well as France and the Benelux countries developed well in the first quarter of 2008.

Negative currency effects of €128 million continued to have an impact on the presentation of our figures for the Americas region, where revenue slipped by 10%, from €1,047 million in the previous year to €942 million. In local currency, the organic growth rate was 2.2%. Business in Latin America once again proved especially strong. Measured against the prior year, we also posted a moderate rise in the United States where reduced shipment volumes and a lower product yield in the domestic time-definite business were compensated by vigorous growth with our day-definite products and increasing international activities.

In the Asia Pacific and EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) regions, organic revenue growth increased by 13.0% and 24.6% respectively. Once again, we achieved the highest rates in Russia and the Middle East. Negative currency effects reduced revenue by €67 million but were eliminated in the calculation of organic revenue growth.

Profit from operating activities (EBIT) in the first quarter fell year-on-year by 32.3%, from €31 million to €21 million, principally because of the fewer working days, especially in Europe, and slowing economic development, particularly in the USA. This slowdown fuelled the shift from high-margin domestic time-definite to day-definite business in the United States, which prompted higher losses in the Americas region. In light of the economic environment, the trend in the remaining regions is acceptable. Furthermore, the first quarter of 2008 saw higher expenses compared with the prior-year period for the new European air hub in Leipzig. The return on sales decreased year-on-year by 0.3 percentage points to 0.6% and the operating cash flow totalled €–19 million.