Deutsche Post Profit Declines After Year-Earlier Gain From Postbank Sale
Deutsche Post AG Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel
Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Deutsche Post AG Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel.
Deutsche Post AG Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Deutsche Post AG (DPW), the world’s biggest carrier of air and sea freight by volume, reported lower first- quarter profit because of a one-time gain last year from the disposal of Postbank.
Net income fell to 325 million euros ($465 million) from 1.7 billion euros a year earlier, when options related to the sale of the former Postbank unit added 1.4 billion euros to profit, the Bonn-based company said today in a statement. The figure matched the 325 million-euro average of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Adjusted for the Postbank effect, profit rose 27 percent, the company said.
“We are in an ideal position to benefit significantly from the continuing momentum in global markets,” Chief Executive Officer Frank Appel said in the statement.
Deutsche Post, which is also Europe’s largest mail carrier, is gaining business as emerging markets in Asia lead worldwide economic growth and the U.S. recovers. The company stuck to its forecast that earnings before interest and taxes in 2011 will rise to a range of 2.2 billion euros to 2.4 billion euros.
Growth in Asia will likely continue to outpace advances in Europe and the U.S. for the next several years, Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Rosen said on a conference call. The share of sales from emerging markets, which has climbed to 33 percent from 25 percent over the past four years, should continue to rise, he said.
Ebit Beat
First-quarter Ebit increased 23 percent to 629 million euros, beating the average estimate of 588 million euros based on a Bloomberg survey of 14 analysts. Sales rose 6.9 percent to 12.8 billion euros.
Deutsche Post rose as much as 31 cents, or 2.3 percent, to 13.79 euros and was up 2.2 percent at 9:35 a.m. in Frankfurt, valuing the company at 16.7 billion euros.
The company’s DHL business, which includes express-package delivery as well as freight handling and forwarding, is raising rates as volumes increase because of the global economic recovery. The traditional postal business introduced the E- Postbrief secure e-mail system in July in an effort to make up for declining revenue as physical letter volumes fall.
DHL’s Ebit rose 66 percent to 363 million euros in the first quarter, helped by higher volumes, fuel surcharges, and lower freight rates. Ebit at the mail division fell 4.1 percent to 373 million euros because of taxes and expenses for expanding its digital business.
Deutsche Post is targeting growth in Ebit at the DHL unit of 13 percent to 15 percent a year through 2015, while the mail division’s Ebit should “stabilize” at about 1 billion a year, the company said today, reiterating previous targets.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Reiter in Berlin at creiter2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net
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