Roadmap to Value

Clear focus on profitability

Throughout 2009 we continued to implement our Roadmap to Value capital markets programme – which we announced in November 2007 – with successful results. In particular, our initiatives to improve profitability made a significant contribution to consolidated net profit. Our IndEx programme helped us to lower indirect costs throughout the Group by €1.108 billion – €138 million in 2008 and €970 million in 2009. We even exceeded our total savings target, reaching it twice as quickly as planned thanks to quicker implementation of the savings measures by our divisions, in part due to the ongoing crisis. We were able to compensate for some of the revenue losses resulting from volume declines by lowering costs.

Tight cash management

We invested €1.2 billion in 2009, €0.5 billion less than the prior-year period and a substantial reduction in capital expenditure. At the same time, we improved working capital by €426 million in the reporting period. Since the end of 2007, we have reduced working capital by a total of €890 million, thus surpassing our target of €700 million.