The group reported a 1.8 percent growth in revenue in 2018, but the decline in EBIT was attributed to 502 million euros spent on restructuring the PeP division.
Deutsche Post DHL Group reported its group profit from operating activities (EBIT) fell by 15.5 percent in 2018 to 3.16 billion euros despite revenue climbing 1.8 percent to 61.6 billion euros.
Post – eCommerce – Parcel (PeP) saw a sharp decline of 56.4 percent in its EBIT, which fell to 656 million euros for the year. The PeP division’s revenue grew, however, by 1.7 percent to 18.5 billion euros. The Group spent 502 million euros restructuring the division into the Post und Paket Deutschland and DHL eCommerce Solutions divisions, which took effect Jan. 1.
“In our German post and parcel business, we initiated measures to secure the division’s long-term EBIT growth — and we consciously accept that this comes with a short-term burden on EBIT,” said CEO Frank Appel (pictured above).
In 2018, DHL’s Express division experienced the largest growth in revenue, 7.3 percent to 16.15 billion euros, and the second-largest increase in EBIT, jumping 12.7 percent to 1.96 billion euros. The division saw revenue growth across all regions and was driven by the increase in international time-definite delivery business, which experienced a volume increase of 7.4 percent year-over-year.
The Global Forwarding, Freight division experienced a nearly 49 percent spike in its yearly EBIT, which jumped to 442 million euros. The division’s revenue was 14.98 billion euros, which was a 3.4 percent growth.
The Supply Chain division fell 5.7 percent in yearly revenue (13.35 billion euros) and 6.3 percent in EBIT (520 million euros).
In the fourth quarter of 2018, Deutsche Post DHL Group reported a year-over-year revenue increase of 5.1 percent (16.93 billion euros) with a profit from operating activities loss of 4 percent (1.13 billion euros). The PeP division’s EBIT dropped 28.4 percent to 366 million euros with a 1.5 percent raise in revenue to 5.13 billion euros.
The Group also reported in the fourth quarter:
• The Express division’s EBIT increased 14.2 percent to 570 million euros and revenue climbed 9 percent to 4.42 billion euros.
• The Global Forwarding, Freight division’s EBIT jumped 30.9 percent to 161 million euros and its revenue grew 5.6 percent to 4 billion euros.
• The Supply Chain division’s revenue improved 3.4 percent to 3.74 billion euros despite it had no change in its EBIT, which remained at 184 million euros.
Deutsche Post DHL Group increased its capital investments by 16.8 percent in 2018 to 2.6 billion euros. The Group plans to increase capital expenditure to about 3.7 billion euros in 2019, which includes 1.1 billion euros for the debt-financed renewal of the Express aircraft fleet.