IGTA Journal - Winter 2020/2021

Prices for express deliveries are expensive. Why so many retail customers are nevertheless using this offer? Express is our prime product – and there is a price for it. But when for instance you let your wedding dress be sewed in Asia, then you want to make sure, that it arrives in time. Then you also pay the express price for this shipment. Also Global Forwarding , Freight correlates as a rule strongly with the development of the economy. Is this not true for 2020? Indeed, the volumes at Global Forwarding, Freight this year have decreased significantly – also in the third quarter. The nevertheless good result had two causes: on the one hand, the freight rates, due to extreme capacities scarcity, went strongly upwards, on the other hand there is also in this division a really good cost management. From 2021 onwards there become due annually bond issues by the volume of 500 to 750 million Euro. Will you refinance these with the issuance of new bonds or with other financial instruments? Or will you not do the refinancing? Indeed, in spring 2021 a bond issue of 750 million Euro becomes due. But our cash position is good, and we have at the beginning of November raised our forecast for the free cash flow in this year from 1,8 billion up to over 2 billion Euro. The original estimate has only been at 1,4 billion Euro. So liquidity is available. Deutsche Post DHL has paid for the past three business years in each one a dividend of 1,15 Euro per share, other corporations this year have decreased the dividend payment. Why not you? It is our dividend policy, to pay out 40 to 60% of net profit. Maintaining this range is very important for us. Also dividend continuity is important for us. Our business development permits to realize both of this even in this difficult year. Thanks to the recent, very positive development of the free cash flow we will also maintain in the future the balance between dividend payments and investments in future growth. Are you thinking about share buy backs? Our financing policy has three essential elements: at the Rating we strive for a “BBB+”; for this we are presently very comfortably positioned with regards to our debt ratios. The second element is the dividend element. And the third one is our policy that - when we generate in a sustained way a cash flow excess after the regular dividend – we think about, how we can let our shareholders participate in this. We concentrate at first on successful yearly financial statements and subsequently we speak about the regular dividend for 2020. Then we can deal with the question, whether, and as the case may be, how we can let our shareholders participate in the success of our company beyond the regular dividend. Are there considerations to make larger acquisitions? With our portfolio we are very well positioned both geographically as well as strategically. For this reason and in the past years, we have therefore taken a moderate position when it IGTA eJournal | Winter 2020/21 | 25