DHL achieves record earnings in 2019

Revenues of Deutsche Post DHL for fiscal year 2019 increased by 2.9 percent to 63.3 billion euros compared to the previous year, the German mail and logistics company announced on Tuesday.

After a drop in 2018, operating profit (EBIT) went up by 30.6 percent to 4.1 billion euros in 2019, according to Deutsche Post. Consolidated net income after non-controlling interests rose by 26.4 percent to 2.6 billion euros.

"We succeeded in growing further in all areas and generating record earnings despite the challenging global economic environment in 2019," said Frank Appel, chief executive officer (CEO) of Deutsche Post DHL Group.

Deutsche Post increased the number of transported parcels to a record of approximately 1.6 billion, a rise of 5.9 percent compared to the previous year. "The holiday season also went well", the company noted. For the first time, more than 250 million parcels were delivered in the six weeks before Christmas alone.

The company's new DHL eCommerce Solutions, which was created at the beginning of 2019 as a carve-out from the mail and parcel business recorded "strong growth", according to Deutsche Post DHL. The digital business division increased revenues by 5.5 percent to 4.0 billion euros.

All regions had contributed to the positive development of DHL eCommerce Solutions, with particular large revenue increases in the United States, the Netherlands and Poland. These results would reflect the company's "strong positioning in the international e-commerce sector."

For its annual targets for 2020, Deutsche Post DHL is excluding potential negative effects of the new coronavirus and set an EBIT guidance of more than 5 billion euros. The German mail and logistics company noted that it would feel the "effects of the coronavirus on current business performance."

However, the company's CEO Appel told Xinhua at the press conference on Tuesday that "the apparent normalization of the situation in China is very encouraging to see." The German company would "not believe that there will be a global recession".

Deutsche Post DHL is expecting additional expenses of between 300 million and 400 million euros resulting from the decision to end production of its own electric delivery van which was already announced at the end of February.

Following the announcement, shares increased by more than 8 percent on Tuesday, making Deutsche Post the biggest winner of Germany's 30 largest companies listed in the DAX.