Deutsche Post DHL Group has announced its Q1 2021 financial results, reporting a revenue increase of 22%, to €18.9bn. Operating profit (EBIT) more than tripled to €1.9bn, making it its strongest opening quarter ever. All five divisions significantly increased their EBIT, slightly exceeding the preliminary quarterly figures published in April. The Group benefited from the continued strong momentum in global e-commerce and the simultaneous recovery in world trade.
“We had the best opening quarter ever and were able to unleash our full strength as a Group. All five of our divisions are on track for growth and are ideally positioned to benefit from the continuing boom in e-commerce and the resurgence in global trade. Our 570,000 employees are operating our networks more efficiently than ever before. This makes me optimistic about the future”, said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group.
“Because of our strategic investments in our networks, we are today in a position to benefit from the surge in demand, while simultaneously improving our efficiency. We expect further growth in the coming quarters, even with growth rates normalizing over time. We are therefore stepping up investments in our infrastructure to be able to continue to optimally serve higher shipment volumes,” said Frank Appel. The company has invested €583m across all divisions in Q1 2021 (Q1 2020: €453m).
All divisions increase revenue and profit in the first quarter 2021
In Q1 2021, all five divisions increased their revenue. The Express, eCommerce Solutions, and Post & Parcel Germany divisions especially benefited from the sustained momentum in e-commerce leading to a sharp rise in shipment volumes in the national and international parcel business. Thanks to the high utilisation of their networks, the divisions achieved a significant jump in earnings. Global Forwarding, Freight and Supply Chain but also Express benefited particularly strongly from the rapid recovery in world trade and the growing B2B business, according to the company.
Express
The Express division utilised its international flight capacities, thus generating an EBIT of €961m, compared to €393m in 2020. Revenue increased by 32.5% to €5.5bn. Volumes in the time-definite international express (TDI) business achieved double-digit percentage growth in all regions of the world. Global growth amounted to 26.3%. At 17.5%, the EBIT margin significantly exceeded the prior-year figure (Q1 2020: 9.5%).
eCommerce Solutions
Shipment volumes increased significantly in all regions. Growth was particularly dynamic in the US and the Netherlands. Thus, revenue developed positively, increasing by 46.0%, to €1.5. The division considerably increased its EBIT from €6m in 2020, to €117m in Q1 2021. The division significantly increased its profitability in the international parcel business through higher utilisation of its networks. The EBIT margin increased in the past quarter to 8.0%, up from 0.6% in Q1 2020.
Global Forwarding, Freight
Global Forwarding, Freight increased its revenue by 32.7%, to €4.8bn. Additional cargo capacity on international passenger aircraft remained limited. Cargo space was also in short supply at sea. The noticeable increase in world trade further intensified the price and margin trends. The division succeeded in increasing air freight volumes by 18.2%, while ocean freight volumes increased by 8.8%. The main driver here was business in Asia. Its EBIT amounted to €216m, up from €74m in 2020. The EBIT margin climbed to 4.5%, compared to 2.1% in 2020.
Supply Chain
After customer activity regained momentum in the fourth quarter of 2020, this trend continued in the first quarter of 2021. The division was thus able to increase revenue by 0.3%, respectively 4.7% organically to €3.2bn compared to the prior-year quarter. Supply Chain also benefited from cost measures and progress in standardization and digitalisation. EBIT reached €167m, compared to €105m in 2020. Its EBIT margin has been reported as 5.2%, compared to 3.2% in 2020.
Post & Parcel Germany
EBIT in Post & Parcel Germany amounted to €556m, compared to €334m in 2020. Revenue and earnings were again driven by the continued strength of e-commerce. Parcel shipment volumes continued to grow by 41.3%, as a result of the limited availability of retail outlets in many places. The mail business again recorded a significant decline with 9.5%, particularly driven by customer reluctance in dialogue marketing. Thus, the decrease in volume was significantly stronger compared to the long-term trend. At €4.6bn,revenue was up 15.1% year-on-year.
Source: Deutsche Post DHL Group
