Growth drivers
There are many factors that can affect the growth of our Mail and Express businesses. We summarise some of these here.
- Liberalisation. The pace at which mail markets deregulate can affect our growth. In the Netherlands, a more open market means greater competition – and increased mail volumes. We expect to lose around 30% of Dutch addressed mail between 2000 and 2012. However, in our European business, having a more open market will be a key factor in our growth. We expect to grow 18% Cumulative Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) until 2012 in our European Mail Networks business.
- GDP. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has a positive impact on our business, especially our Direct Mail business, which includes a lot of advertising mail.
- Substitution. This is the replacement of mail by other media such as internet, email, radio and television.
Express
- Global GDP and trade. As global GDP and trade grows, so do the opportunities for our Express services.
- New markets. We are expanding in Asia and other emerging markets (for example, by acquiring Speedage in India, Mercurio in Brazil, and Hoau in China). Our primary focus is on providing road-based Express services in these countries.
- Gaining market share. We believe we can gain share from other players in Europe. Compared to the US, Europe is still more fragmented, which benefits larger players from a market share perspective. In Asia, road express services are scattered. We are playing a leading role in developing these services there.
- New products and special services. Introducing new products and services is a key part of our strategy, and an important contributor to our growth.
- Customer service. We see this as a key differential in growing our business.
- Acquisitions. We can fill gaps with acquisitions (for example, by acquiring TG+ in Spain in 2006). We may also acquire companies to help us achieve our Focus on Networks strategy.