ANNUAL REPORT 2011 - Kuehne + Nagel

4
Report of the Board of Directors
Board committees
The Board of Directors’ regular committees are the Audit, the
Chairman’s and the Nomination and Compensation Committee.
In 2011, the committees took place quarterly with the respective
chairmen reporting on issues at subsequent meetings of the
Board of Directors.
Risk assessment
Together with the Management Board the Audit Committee
makes a regular assessment of the Group’s business risks.
This assessment also includes investigations by international
competition authorities, in which Kuehne + Nagel has been
involved amongst others. On November 4, 2011, the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia has approved
the plea agreement between Kuehne + Nagel International AG
and the U.S. Department of Justice previously entered into on
September 30, 2010. Under this agreement Kuehne + Nagel
agreed to pay a fine of approximately USD 9.9 million to resolve
allegations that international freight forwarders coordinated
their activities with respect to establishing certain surcharges.
In approving the plea agreement and the recommended fine the
Department of Justice and the Court recognised that Kuehne +
Nagel provided substantial assistance to the U.S. authorities
through its early and extensive cooperation with the investigation.
Management Board
As of September 1, 2011, the Board of Directors newly
structured the responsibilities in the Management Board. Horst-
Joachim Schacht (responsible for seafreight) and Tim Scharwath
(responsible for airfreight) were appointed to the Management
Board of Kuehne + Nagel International AG. Peter Ulber, who
had been responsible for sea and airfreight previously, left the
company for personal reasons in September 2011. The assignment
of responsibility to two members of the Management
Board underscores the relevance of these two business units for
the company. At the end of 2011 the Management Board consisted
of seven members chaired by Reinhard Lange as Chief
Executive Officer (CEO).
Shareholder structure
At the end of 2011 the shareholder structure of Kuehne + Nagel
International AG was as follows:
— Kuehne Holding AG 53.3 per cent
— Free float 46.1 per cent
— Treasury shares 0.6 per cent
100.0 per cent
Economic environment
The further recovery of the world economy softened in the
course of the year. According to 2011 figures available to date
global gross domestic product (GDP) was at 2.8 per cent (previous
year: 4.0 per cent). The debt crisis in the Euro zone, the
structural problems in the USA, the earthquake disaster in
Japan, and, not least, the insecurity resulting from political
unrest in the Middle East and North Africa influenced the global
economic development. On the other hand the big emerging
countries in Asia and South America proved to be power houses
of growth. In China, for instance, GDP increased by 9.2 per cent
in 2011 although a loss of impetus became apparent in the
fourth quarter. Also worth mentioning is the robust state of
the German economy in 2011. According to initial calculations,
Germany's GDP grew by 3 per cent, a rate twice as high as in
the rest of the Euro zone.