Difficulty in estimating the financial consequences of coronavirus
Deutsche Post DHL Group presented good figures for the 2019 financial year on Tuesday. At the same time, the forecasts for 2020 were communicated very cautiously.
The revenue of Deutsche Post in 2019 was 63.3 billion euros. This represents an increase of three percent compared to the previous year. Net profit in 2019 increased by around 26 percent year-on-year to 2.6 billion euros.
Commenting on the 2019 results, CEO Frank Appel said: “With our broad geographic footprint and our extensive portfolio, we are very robustly positioned and more resilient than other companies in our sector. We have thus succeeded in continuing to grow in all areas and achieving record earnings despite the challenging global economic environment in 2019”.
Perspectives for the current year
This year Deutsche Post DHL Group will probably not achieve such good figures as last year. The earnings target for 2020 stated when the annual report was presented was communicated only conditionally. The reason for the caution is that the company currently regards the effects of the coronavirus as an unquantifiable effect. Originally, the company planned to achieve an operating profit (EBIT) of more than 5 billion euros this year.
The two DHL divisions Freight and Express, which account for fifty percent of the Group’s revenue, have been particularly hard hit by the effects of the coronavirus. By contrast, the impact of the virus in the Post & Parcel Germany, Supply Chain Logistics and E-Commerce segments is currently minor.
Despite the difficulty of predicting developments for this year, the logistics group remains optimistic for the longer term. The forecast for 2022 has been confirmed.
Source: www.kloepfel-consulting.com