In light of the uncertain prospects for the economy, it remains difficult to forecast the development of the industrial cranes market in financial year 2009/2010. According to studies by Goldman Sachs and Oxford Economics, emerging economies will outperform mature markets. We therefore see clear growth opportunities through advancing industrialisation in emerging markets and assume that demand for high-quality products will grow particularly quickly. Consequently, we will expand the presence of the Demag Cranes Group in these regions in future. Due to the expected change in our customers’ investment behaviour, we see additional growth potential in the Industrial Cranes segment, particularly in the medium price segment. We will expand our product portfolio and adjust it to the changed market requirements accordingly.

Under the given conditions, it is also very difficult to estimate market development in the Port Technology segment for financial year 2009/2010. The fact that the transport volume for container traffic is dependent on the performance of the global economy, and will rise again with the recovery, spells an opportunity for the Demag Cranes Group. However, it must be assumed that there will also be a delay between recovery and an increase in investments in port and handling technology. This is because current utilisation of existing facilities is low and there is an expectation that customers will wait for sustained growth before selectively investing resources. In large terminals where automated products and systems are used, ongoing projects were not stopped. There is a trend, however, towards reducing and postponing the volumes commissioned. Away from the maritime ports, there are opportunities for the Port Technology segment with solutions for the growing volume of intermodal traffic, enabling it to serve markets and tap into growth potential subject to developments and trends different from those in sea transport. Although price pressure persists in the port technology market, we have increased our efficiency in terms of costs thanks to the rapidly introduced and implemented restructuring programme. In addition, our current products are not only competitive, they also enjoy a very high degree of acceptance among our customers. Furthermore, new products to expand the portfolio are currently in the development phase. Another major market opportunity lies in augmenting the service portfolio in the Port Technology segment. We have therefore introduced measures to broaden our global service presence.

It also remains difficult to forecast market development for financial year 2009/2010 in the Services segment. Although the trend towards outsourcing and switching to professional maintenance services persists, we assume that the financial and economic crisis will continue to make itself felt in the Services segment as well, albeit to a lesser extent than in the other segments. Due to the reduction of production capacities and strong price pressure from customers, competition may intensify even further, especially in maintenance and refurbishment business. In the market for spare parts, we assume demand will initially continue to stagnate at the same level as for the last few quarters. This assumption is based on the capacity utilisation of our customers’ production facilities, which is still below average. In the field service organisation, however, the economic impact is not as great, and steps to adjust staff levels were already largely carried out in previous months. This allows us to further improve our competitiveness in this area. Cranes and hoists newly installed in healthy economic times offer particular growth opportunities on top of our existing installed base. Thanks in particular to our good customer relationships, we can profit from newly generated service contracts as well as from ongoing service arrangements.