Consolidated Financial Statements Notes General Notes 1. Principles 
General Notes
1. PRINCIPLES
I. GROUP STRUCTURE
Fresenius is a worldwide operating health care group with products and services for dialysis, the hospital and the medical care of patients at home. Further areas of activity are hospital operations as well as engineering and services for hospitals and other health care facilities. In addition to the activities of Fresenius SE, the operating activities were split into the following legally-independent business segments (subgroups) in the fiscal year 2008:
- Fresenius Medical Care
- Fresenius Kabi
- Fresenius Helios
- Fresenius Vamed
Fresenius Medical Care is the world’s leading provider of dialysis products and dialysis care for the life-saving treatment of patients with chronic kidney failure. Fresenius Medical Care treats 184,086 patients in its 2,388 own dialysis clinics.
Fresenius Kabi is Europe’s leading company in the field of infusion therapy and clinical nutrition with subsidiaries and distributors worldwide. Fresenius Kabi’s products are used in hospitals as well as in out-patient medical care to treat critically and chronically ill patients. Fresenius Kabi is also a leading provider of transfusion technology products in Europe
As of January 1, 2008, Fresenius has reorganized its hospital business. The business segment Fresenius ProServe has been replaced by the two new business segments, Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed, which so far have formed Fresenius ProServe. Fresenius Helios is focused on hospital operations. Fresenius Vamed offers engineering and services for hospitals and other health care facilities.
Fresenius SE owned 36.27% of the ordinary voting shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (FMC-AG & Co. KGaA) and 35.80% of the total subscribed capital of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA at the end of the fiscal year 2008. Fresenius Medical Care Management AG, the general partner of FMC-AG & Co. KGaA, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fresenius SE. Due to this structure, FMC-AG & Co. KGaA is fully consolidated in the consolidated financial statements of the Fresenius Group.
Fresenius SE continued to hold 100% of the management companies of the business segments Fresenius Kabi (Fresenius Kabi AG) as well as Fresenius Helios and Fresenius Vamed (both held through Fresenius ProServe GmbH) on December 31, 2008. In addition, Fresenius SE holds interests in companies with holding functions regarding real estate, financing and insurance, as well as in Fresenius Netcare GmbH which offers services in the field of information technology and in Fresenius Biotech Beteiligungs GmbH.
The reporting currency in the Fresenius Group is the euro. In order to make the presentation clearer, amounts are mostly shown in million euros. Amounts which are lower than € 1 million after they have been rounded are marked with “–”.
II. BASIS OF PRESENTATION
The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP).
Since January 1, 2005, Fresenius SE as a stock exchange listed company with a domicile in a member state of the European Union fulfills its obligation to prepare and publish the consolidated financial statements in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) applying Section 315a of the German Commercial Code (HGB). Simultaneously, the Fresenius Group voluntarily prepares and publishes the consolidated financial statements in accordance with US GAAP.
In order to improve clarity of presentation, various items are aggregated in the consolidated balance sheet and statement of income. These items are analyzed separately in the Notes where this provides useful information to the users of the consolidated financial statements.
The consolidated balance sheet is classified on the basis of the liquidity of assets and liabilities; the consolidated statement of income is classified using the cost-of-sales accounting format.
