Deutsche Post DHL boasts of its profit growth – bonus will be paid to half a million employees

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Deutsche Post DHL Group recorded significant profit growth in Q2 2020. EBIT (operating profit, i.e. before taxes and interest) increased by 16% to approximately €890 million. The Group looks to 2020 with optimism and presents its forecasts for the future.

“Until now, we managed our company very well during the coronavirus crisis. We owed it to our dedicated associates around the world. Only thanks to the tireless efforts of our teams have we been able to maintain supply chains and thus global supply,” said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group.

The Group’s employees will now benefit from the common success. Besides the management, all employees of Deutsche Post should receive a bonus of €300. Therefore, a total of over 500,000 employees worldwide will receive the extra money.

Slow economic recovery in Q2 

The global pandemic left its mark on the economic situation in Europe and North America in the early second quarter of 2020. At that time, the DPDHL Group observed a sharp decline in shipping volumes, which required measures to adapt to changed demand and maintain its own air transport capacity. Result? The further course of Q2 brought a slow recovery and increase in volume. 

Moreover, since the end of March, the company has started to observe an improvement in the situation related to the growing number of shipments in eCommerce, both in Germany and abroad. 

According to the DPDHL Group, preliminary total EBIT in Q2 was approximately €890 million (compared to €769 million in 2019). 

In turn, EBIT results for individual areas are as follows:

– Post and parcels in Germany – approx. €260 million (compared to €177 million in 2019),

– Express deliveries – approx. €560 million (€521 million in 2019),

– Global forwarding – approx. €190 million (€124 million in 2019),

– Supply chain – €60 million (€87 million in 2019),

– eCommerce solutions – approx. €30 million (€18 million in 2019).

Outlook for the future

Taking these results into account, the Group’s management expects an EBIT of between €3.5 and €3.8 billion for the whole of 2020. Deutsche Post envisages three scenarios of further business development, which take into account the uncertainty about the course of economic recovery in the next two years. 

The Group’s medium-term forecasts for 2022 are as follows:

1. With the favourable situation of a rapid recovery of the global economy, without serious complications due to the development of the pandemic, the Group expects an EBIT of over €5.3 billion.
2. In the case of a rather slow recovery, e.g. due to local barriers introduced or maintained by the development of the pandemic, the Group expects an EBIT of around €5.1 billion.
3. In the worst case scenario, i.e. with a very slow economic recovery due to major complications resulting from the development of the pandemic, the Group expects an EBIT of around €4.7 billion.