Dusseldorf For two years, numerous lockdowns during the corona pandemic had brought Deutsche Post’s parcel business a steep rise. But the boom seems to be over. The Post & Parcel division only made an operating profit (EBIT) of 355 million euros in the past quarter – after 556 million euros in the same period of the previous year. “In the first quarter, the expected normalization in online trading took place,” commented CEO Frank Appel on the results.
Nevertheless, the logistics giant from Bonn exceeded expectations in the overall business. With 22.6 billion euros, he turned over almost eleven percent more than analysts had expected. And the fact that Swiss Post increased its earnings per share from EUR 0.96 to EUR 1.10 is also considered a positive surprise. Analysts had expected an average of just EUR 0.89.
The Dax group owes its strong result primarily to its business with commercial customers (B2B). The freight and forwarding business, which benefited from the high freight rates in the world market, improved its operating profit to 601 million euros. In the first quarter of the previous year it was just enough for 216 million euros.
Deutsche Post DHL also earned EUR 205 million from warehousing services, an outsourcing business for industrial companies, almost 23 percent more than in the previous year.
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With a view to the Ukraine war, Appel stated that world trade had so far proven to be resilient. “Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the increasing challenges for global economic development,” he explained.
Billion investments planned
Deutsche Post DHL is sticking to its forecast for the current financial year. The group expects an operating profit (EBIT) of eight billion euros with a deviation of five percent above or below. For the 2024 financial year, the company continues to forecast an increase in EBIT to around EUR 8.5 billion.
In addition, without taking acquisitions into account, Swiss Post expects free cash flow of EUR 3.6 billion in the current year – also with a maximum deviation of five percent in both directions. In 2022 they want to invest 4.2 billion euros (Capex), in the period up to 2024 even twelve billion euros.
More: Unusual dilemma at Deutsche Post: the money has to go