Higher profits for German Deutsche Post
Germany’s Deutsche Post has started the year well and aims to boost profits in 2004, Chief Executive Klaus Zumwinkel said, adding that the German mail and logistics provider is on plan in the new year.
Zumwinkel said the group would meet its goal of 2.9 billion euros ($3.65 billion) in 2003 pre-tax earnings.
Zumwinkel also told Reuters that Deutsche Post expected to make pre-tax earnings of 3.6 billion euros in 2005, boosted by its efficiency and cost-cutting program, but declined to give a specific figure for 2004 ahead of first quarter results.
Deutsche Post is not ruling out acquisitions for any of its units, with expansion in Asia particularly attractive for express and logistics unit DHL.
Zumwinkel also said he expected more job cuts in the United States this year, where Deutsche Post recently bought courier Airborne Inc, but declined to give a specific number.
Zumwinkel expects the German government and its agencies, which own about 63 percent of Deutsche Post, to sell further stakes in the second half of this year or in 2005. In 2007 he expects the group to be fully privatized.
