Jump in results thanks to the flood of parcels: Corona makes the post burst with strength

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Jump in results thanks to the flood of packages
Corona makes the post burst with strength

Public life has been dimmed for weeks because of the corona pandemic. Thousands of shops are closed – but the online shops are open around the clock. The Christmas business exceeds all expectations. The next few years should be even better.

Thanks to the flood of parcels during the Corona crisis, Deutsche Post exceeded the profit expectations raised in October. The earnings before taxes and interest (EBIT) rose to 4.8 billion euros in the past year, said the Post. In 2019, the operating profit amounted to 4.1 billion euros.

The Dax group had last promised 4.1 to 4.4 billion. At the same time, Swiss Post had to cope with one-off effects of 600 million euros. In the fourth quarter alone with the Christmas business, the EBIT increased by more than half to almost two billion euros. The turnover of the logistics group climbed by five percent to 66.8 billion euros for the year as a whole, driven by an increase of 13 percent in the last three months. The preliminary figures drove the Post share further.

For the current and next year, Swiss Post is again anticipating strong profit growth. The EBIT should be more than 5.4 billion euros in 2021, and even higher for 2022.

Group orders eight more Boeing

In the meantime, Deutsche Post subsidiary DHL Express has ordered eight additional Boeing 777F cargo planes. The investment is a further step in the expansion of the intercontinental air freight network of the logistics group, it said. The group wants to meet the fast growing customer demand on the international express mail order markets. The first machines are to be delivered as early as 2022.

"Although the current health crisis has brought many areas of life to a standstill, there is no break in world trade," said DHL Express boss John Pearson. Thanks to ongoing digitization, the company's global e-commerce volume grew by more than 40 percent in the fourth quarter.

DHL Express says it operates more than 600 flights to 220 countries and territories every day with a fleet of more than 260 aircraft and 17 partner airlines. DHL Express had already ordered 14 machines of the same type in 2018, 10 of which are already in service. The Boeing 777F has a range of 9200 kilometers and can transport a maximum cargo volume of 102 tons.