Lower income and expense

Non-recurring expenses of €495 million were incurred for restructuring activities in the US express business (previous year: €2,117 million). Additional restructuring costs of €747 million (previous year: €440 million) impacted earnings in financial year 2009. In the previous year, additional non-recurring expenses of €610 million were incurred for an impairment loss on goodwill for Supply Chain and of €382 million for a write-down on the Exel brand.

In 2008, the repayment received in the EU state aid proceedings generated non-recurring income of €572 million. It is primarily for this reason that other operating income fell by €595 million to €2,141 million.

The lower sales volume in conjunction with lower oil prices led to a fall of €6,205 million in  materials expenses to €25,774 million.

Staff costs fell by €1,368 million to €17,021 million, due mainly to our withdrawal from the US domestic express market.

At €1,620 million, depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses were down 39.1% on the prior-year figure (€2,662 million). The year under review was impacted in particular by the restructuring of the US express business and the insolvency of Arcandor. In 2008, write-downs on the goodwill of Supply Chain and the Exel brand in particular had increased depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses.

Thanks to our cost reduction programme, we cut other operating expenses from €5,146 million in the previous year to €3,696 million. Travel and consulting costs in particular were reduced considerably.