In October, based on preliminary figures, the Post reported an increase in EBIT in the third quarter to 1.7 (previous year: 1.377) billion euros.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf Deutsche Post has once again increased its forecast for the current financial year. The Bonn-based Dax group now expects a record operating profit (EBIT) of 7.7 billion euros in 2021 – and thus ten percent more than previously forecast. In 2020, a mere 4.8 billion euros were raised, compared to an average of around 3.5 billion in the previous years.
CEO Frank Appel also improved the medium-term forecast. For 2023 he is now forecasting a group EBIT of more than eight billion euros, which corresponds to a target increase of 0.6 billion euros.
“Our business also developed extremely positively in the third quarter of 2021,” he said, explaining the move. “After nine months we have already exceeded our record full year result from the previous year.” World trade is on the way back to its former strength, observes Appel. The online trade is holding on to its new, higher level.
Above all, it is the bottlenecks in logistics and the associated price increases from which Deutsche Post DHL is benefiting significantly. Their turnover from sea freight was 98 percent above the value of the third quarter of 2019, but the brokered freight volume was seven percent below the level before Corona.
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DHL also saw a similar trend in air freight. Sales there rose by 37 percent in the two-year period, but the volume only rose by 16 percent. The bottom line was that the DHL freight division accumulated revenue of two billion euros in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 53.3 percent compared to the previous year.
By contrast, the previously booming parcel business developed more cautiously. The Post and Parcel Germany division only grew by 3.6 percent year-on-year, after having grown by more than 20 percent at times. Nevertheless, Swiss Post expects new record values for Christmas. “We have prepared for growing numbers,” said Appel.
E-commerce is growing more slowly
But the uncertainties are also increasing. There is still strong e-commerce growth in Eastern Europe and the Netherlands, but business is stagnating in Great Britain. The USA even reported a drop in sales compared to the previous year. The US competitor UPS, which reported a profit jump of 19 percent a few days ago, therefore does not even dare to make an annual forecast at the moment.
Things are still going smoothly for Deutsche Post DHL. For the third quarter, the group confirmed the preliminary earnings figures reported at the beginning of October. The operating result rose by 28.6 percent to 1.8 billion euros compared to the previous year. The EBIT margin improved to 8.8 percent – after 8.5 percent in the previous year.
Sales also increased surprisingly strongly. At 20 billion euros, it exceeded the same quarter of the previous year by 23.5 percent. Analysts had recently expected an average of just 17.9 billion euros. Earnings per share were also almost five percent higher than expected by the market at 88 cents. The share therefore initially gained 1.2 percent after the figures were published.
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