Report on the Group’s business performance and the economic situation

Over long stretches of the business year 2013/14, it was affected by the recession in Europe that hung on until the summer of 2013, by the fact that recovery in the USA was endangered by the budget and debt ceiling debates, and the surprisingly cautious development of the emerging markets. All in all, the past twelve months saw a rather challenging market environment. It was also a significant aspect that expectations and actual developments often diverged significantly. While expectations were already positive in the early part of the year, they were not confirmed by actual developments until late in the year. Positive news from individual market segments and economic regions and early indicators of economic growth created a positive momentum in the last quarter of the business year 2013/14 as well as commensurate expectations for the new business year.