Deutsche Post revenues over €40 billion
Logistics giant Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN) has announced that it exceeded €40billion in revenues for the first time in 2003. It released its full year figures which showed a 1.9% increase in total revenues to €40,017m from €39,255m in 2002. This takes into account a negative foreign exchange impact of €1,168m caused by the increasing strength of the euro. Operating profit (EBITA) also marginally increased by 0.2% to €2,975m.
Revenue from the mail division, the vast majority of which is generated in Germany, fell by 1.6% to €11.9bn. This was largely due to a price cut enforced on the company by the German regulator which impacted on sales by an estimated €300m. This cut also had a detrimental affect on profits which fell by 5% in this division to just over €2bn.
Express
Revenue in the Express division rose strongly by 12.3% to €16.4bn. This was mainly as a result of a number of acquisitions including the purchase of Airborne Express in the US, Securicor Omega in the UK and Ascoli in Italy. Operating profits jumped by 51% to €408m, an operating margin of 2.5% (1.8% 2002). The upturn of the European economy was partly responsible for this improvement.
Logistics
There was only a slight increase in Logistics division revenues to €5.9bn. However profits increased strongly by 19% to €206m. The company put this down to cost management particularly in Germany and the Nordics. The air and sea freight revenues were helped by an increase in rates on the Asia Pacific lanes, although it was not possible to pass on all of these rises to clients. However profit margins rose from 3% to 3.5%.
Management also re-affirmed that the savings which it was making as part of its STAR integration programme would help the company reach its target of €3.6bn operating profits by 2005.
