DB Group reports half-year results for 2021

DB Group reported its half-year results with total Group revenues of €21.8bn, up 12.2% compared with the same period in 2020.

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DB Group reported its half-year results, ended the first six months of 2021, with total Group revenues of €21.8bn, up 12.2% compared with the same period in 2020. Its operating loss (adjusted EBIT) was €975m due to the pandemic, according to DB Group. Taking extraordinary items, net interest balance and income taxes into account, DB Group showed an after-tax loss of €1.4bn. However, the loss was reported to be much lower than in the first half of 2020. 

Very strong performance by DB Schenker, DB Group’s logistics unit, had a positive impact. And some of DB Group’s other business units, including DB Regional, DB Netze Track and DB Cargo, also saw revenue increases despite the pandemic.

Revenues DB Schenker

  • Total: €10.7bn, up by 26.3% Y-o-Y
  • EBITDA: €916m, up by 61.0% Y-o-Y 
  • EBIT: €627m, up by 125.5% Y-o-Y
  • Road Transport Total Revenue: €3.7bn, up by 13.5% Y-o-Y
  • Air/Sea Freight Total Revenue: €5.5bn, up by 42.8% Y-o-Y

Volumes DB Schenker

  • Road Transport (in thousand): 56,316, up by 9.0% Y-o-Y
  • Air Freight (in thousand): 712,1 tonnes, up by 43.8% Y-o-Y
  • Sea Freight (in thousand): 1,000 TEUs, up by 0.8% Y-o-Y

Deutsche Bahn (DB) has reportedly seen a noticeable uptrend as of the second quarter of 2021. As Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in Germany, demand for long-distance services, which were especially hard hit by the pandemic, began to increase sharply in April. Even so, the tight lockdown during the first few months of the year, which was repeatedly extended, had a major impact on DB Group’s bottom line for the first half of 2021. Despite the pandemic, DB Group has continued to invest at record levels for more climate-friendly growth – capital expenditures at the railway in Germany has been higher than ever before.

“We are really picking up the pace for sustainable mobility and logistics. Our products and services have never been better – we are well equipped for more passengers and growth,” said Dr. Richard Lutz, CEO of DB, in Berlin. Lutz reported that DB Group was making substantive improvements to its fleet and network, such as adding new XXL ICE 4 trains and modernizing nearly 2,000 kilometers of track in 2021 alone.

DB Schenker surpassed the values of the first six months of 2020 by far, according to DB Group. With an operating profit of nearly €630m, DB Schenker posted the best figure at the half-year mark in its history. DB Schenker benefited from high demand for stable global logistics chains, more than doubling its profits compared with the first half of 2020. DB Arriva, DB Group’s local transport operator in Europe, saw losses again but performed far better than in the same period in 2020.

DB Group expects an operating loss (EBIT adjusted) for 2021 as a whole, in part because it will likely no longer be able to make up for the months of lockdown at the beginning of the year. The operating loss is expected to be roughly €2bn, which is much lower than in 2020. DB Group anticipates that revenues in 2021 will continue to rise again, to over €42bn. All forecasts are still subject to a high level of uncertainty, as it is impossible to reliably predict how the pandemic, the economy and flood recovery could affect performance.

Source: DB Group

 

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