Outlook

Outlook for the full year 2009

Business development in the second quarter confirms our view, expressed after the first quarter, that volume declines may have seen the bottom. Still, the wide range of forecasts for the global economy, and in particular for the euro zone and Germany, indicates a high level of uncertainty. Our customers’ expectations regarding the future business environment differ widely.

Taking these factors into account, we have built our forecast on the assumption that there will not be a significant recovery of trading volumes for the rest of the year. This scenario includes continued risks to individual customers and industries, be it insolvencies or extended factory closures during the summer period. In such an environment, Deutsche Post DHL management expects a full-year underlying Group EBIT of €1.2 billion in 2009.

Cost-cutting initiatives are being executed successfully in all our divisions. The MAIL Division, the single largest contributor to the Group’s EBIT, continues, however, to face structural challenges.

The positive effects from the Postbank transaction should lead to a return to a positive net profit in 2009 as a whole – a substantial improvement on 2008.