Strategy and goals

Unlocking our full potential

Our Strategy 2015 is intended to help us to unlock our full potential. We want to become the preferred supplier for our customers, an attractive investment for our shareholders and a top employer for our staff.

Expressed in figures, we are aiming for growth in our operating divisions that exceeds the annual growth of their respective markets by one to two percentage points.

Our two pillars: mail and logistics

We want to maintain our position as Die Post für Deutschland (The Postal Service for Germany). At the same time we intend to become The Logistics Company for the World by making use of the global strength of our logistics business.

Our new Group name, Deutsche Post DHL, underscores the significance of these two pillars of our business. The Deutsche Post brand stands for a company that sets global standards in quality, technology and efficiency and has already proven itself able to very successfully meet the challenges inherent in this mature market. In the MAIL division, our goal is to continue operating highly profitably and to enhance our range of services by adding more communications products. The DHL brand stands for a comprehensive product portfolio and worldwide logistics presence. Our EXPRESS, GLOBAL FORWARDING, FREIGHT, and SUPPLY CHAIN divisions operate in attractive market segments. Our goal is to continue taking advantage of the excellent growth opportunities in the logistics industry and to unlock the full potential of our enterprise.

Our guiding principle: Respect and Results

The corporate culture of a company is vital in determining its ability to perform at a high level. Our guiding principle of Respect and Results has evolved from the daily challenge of achieving first-class results whilst adhering to our sense of responsibility for the needs of our employees and customers. We show respect towards our shareholders by making our challenges public and clearly stating how we intend to face them. We are well aware of the effect our corporate activities have on society. Therefore, we also act respectfully towards everyone with whom we interact and the environment in which we live.

Simplifying the lives of our customers

Our customer promise is a key component of our corporate strategy. We want to offer our customers services that make their lives easier and that have sustained value. To meet this standard, we have established a number of Group-wide initiatives. Our First Choice programme, for instance, remains of central importance. First Choice means improving our customer focus in all areas and aligning our processes accordingly.

Moreover, to distance ourselves from the competition we want to become or remain the innovative leader in the logistics industry and the market leader in selected sectors. We plan to achieve this with our new DHL Solutions & Innovations (DSI) unit and through Sector Management. DSI pools the innovative activities within DHL with an eye on developing ground-breaking solutions using existing sector expertise. Sector Management is our chosen method of institutionalising the cross-divisional exchange of expertise within DHL. This results in new products, services and solutions that are better equipped to meet customer requirements in certain sectors.

Making a contribution to our environment

As the largest company in our industry, we take our environmental and social responsibility seriously. Our sustainability strategy focuses on three areas. The Group’s GoGreen programme was developed to establish a systematic approach to achieving our climate protection target. Our GoHelp focus area centres on people in need. Here we apply our expertise towards improving the living conditions of people in disaster areas. The third expression of our commitment to society is education. We have created the GoTeach project to define a concept for this endeavour and to establish a corresponding strategy.

Our Supervisory Board adopted a new financial strategy for the Group in March 2010.

• In addition to the interests of our shareholders, the new strategy also takes lender requirements into account. The goal is for the Group to maintain its financial flexibility and low cost of capital by ensuring a high degree of continuity and predictability for investors.
  
• A key component of this strategy is the determination of a target capital structure to achieve our target rating of BBB +. This target rating will be controlled via a dynamic performance metric called “funds from operations to debt” (FFO to debt), calculated on a rolling 12-month basis.
  
• The strategy also includes a sustained dividend policy and clear priorities for the use of available liquidity. It will initially be used to make attractive investments as well as to partially fund our pension liabilities. Once this has been achieved, we would initially aim for a rating improvement to A – before using available liquidity for additional dividend payments or share repurchases.