DHL quarterly pre-tax profit up 43.7pc to US$741.6 million

DEUTSCHE POST DHL has reported third quarter earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), excluding exceptional items, rose by 43.7 per cent to EUR543 million (US$741.6 million) on revenues of EUR12.79 billion, up 13.9 per cent year on year.

The drivers of this growth were express and DHL forwarding and supply chain business. However, the Mail business unit suffered a slight decline in revenue, said UK`s Transport Intelligence.



The top performer was the DHL Forwarding and Freight division, achieving revenue growth of 35.8 per cent at EUR3.7 billion. Profits before exceptional items grew by 34.2 per cent with EBIT at EUR102 million.



Within the division, forwarding grew 47 per cent year on year to EUR2.8 billion. The road freight was up 10 per cent. Higher demand for ocean and, in particular, air freight was the core driver of this growth. Rates in the air freight sector are very high as DHL was cited as saying that it is able to pass these onto customers due to the strong demand for freight.


Supply Chain achieved 12.9 per cent revenue growth and an EBIT of EUR84 million. Express saw revenue increase by 11.7 per cent to EUR2.7 billion, and profits were up 48 per cent year on year to EUR194 million.


The weakest division was mail with revenue declining by 2.7 per cent in the third quarter and by 20 per cent in EBIT to EUR259 million.


Deutsche Post DHL chief executive Frank Appel suggests a "likely" profit forecast for the whole group of EUR2 billion for the full year, with forwarding, freight, express and supply chain making an EBIT of more than EUR1.3 billion, the report said.