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Services in figures
All figures relate to continuing operations. * before taxes and minority interest
			2003/2004		2004/2005
Order intake	million €		11,437		12,473
Sales	million €		11,306		12,504
EBITDA	million €		409		541
Income*	million €		251		380
Employees (September 30)			33,211		34,835

Portfolio streamlined, services further integrated

With "services across the value chain" ThyssenKrupp Services enables customers to concentrate on their core competencies and transfer secondary procurement, production and logistics processes to us. Our customers are chiefly from the steel, steel processing, automotive, aerospace, engineering, chemical, oil and energy sectors. The segment streamlined its portfolio in the reporting period. In addition to selling the facility management business at the beginning of the fiscal year, as part of an interface optimization program Services also withdrew from drop shipping of flat steel produced within the Group; this is now handled directly by the Steel and Stainless segments. Services is not the sales organization of the Group's steel-producing segments but a vendor-independent service provider. Less than 10% of sales are generated with products manufactured by the ThyssenKrupp Group.

Another forward-looking move was the integration of material services – for example primary processing, warehouse and inventory management, logistics, supply chain management – with industrial process services. This cross selling is making a clear positive impact and has already led to complex orders for major producers in Germany and the USA.

Leading positions in the international marketplace

The increase in efficiency has also strengthened Services' leading positions on the respective markets. We are the number one materials supplier in Germany and number three in the USA. ThyssenKrupp is market leader in Germany for industrial services and world number one in the specialist market for scaffold services. The raw materials and technical services operations also hold top positions in the international markets.

Overall the segment is among the world's biggest suppliers of stainless steel, nonferrous metals and plastics. The product range comprises over 150,000 items available directly from stock. In addition to offering optimized material supplies, Services supplements and combines this product range with a wide range of intelligent services and system solutions which are making a steadily increasing contribution to the segment's sales.

The key to getting goods to customers in the shortest possible time while keeping stocks as low as possible is our sophisticated warehouse, logistics and information system with central and regional warehouses. Services provides highly complex material services at around 300 locations worldwide and operates numerous service centers, branches and processing facilities. Our capabilities include slitting, cutting to length, plasma and laser cutting, sawing, drilling, milling and coating. These services take the strain off our customers and significantly enhance their flexibility.

Planning, control and management are also key terms in our classic industrial services business. At 220 locations worldwide we offer maintenance and repair, production support, in-plant logistics and scaffold services. Added to this are technical services for the erection and maintenance of facilities and buildings.

Project management expertise, global connections, specialist market knowledge and system solutions play a key role in our service business – be it in the worldwide supply of rolled steel and tubes or the sale of new and used industrial facilities and equipment. International project experience and contacts are also key to our civil engineering and port construction systems business and in the supply of alloys, metals, minerals and coke. These capabilities are enhanced by consulting and planning services and the provision of the necessary equipment including aftersales and spare parts services.

World market focus

ThyssenKrupp Services' main markets are Europe and the NAFTA region; we are currently expanding our position in the highly attractive growth market of Eastern Europe. Our own companies in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia today generate sales well in excess of €400 million and employ more than 1,000 people – and rising.

To press ahead with its Eastern Europe strategy, Services opened new companies in Bulgaria and Ukraine in summer 2005. In Poland the materials business was concentrated in new central warehouses in Dabrowa Gornicza and Poznan. These locations are being expanded and fitted with modern handling equipment in order to permit further sales growth.

In the NAFTA region we have established a particularly strong market position with specialty products, i.e. stainless steel and nonferrous metals. Added to this are services such as applications consulting, processing, warehousing and supply chain management. Here, too, the prospects are outstanding: in all business areas, sales activities were expanded and new sales regions were developed – particularly in the US southwest and southeast.

Investing in the future

Services continues to pursue a clear forward strategy. While in the past two years the focus was on restructuring and consolidation, in the future the segment aims to increase its flexibility and grow further. It will expand and further integrate its service activities, enhance its performance to secure earnings, optimize its business processes and continue to grow in established markets. In addition, it will further expand its operations on markets outside Germany in the next few years. We will invest in our Eastern European activities, augment our branch network in North America, and expand our global raw materials business by securing international distribution rights. Where the prospects are good, Services will also invest in new acquisitions.