New calls for DHL withdrawal
A second major investment house is calling for Deutsche Post to pull DHL out of North America.
Morgan Stanley, following on the heels of Bear Stearns, said in a Jan. 7 research report that the company needs a “quick, radical solution” to the estimated USD 900 million in losses DHL faces in the United States.
The firm likened the Deutsche Post problems to those of the former DaimlerChrysler before that automaker took action by splitting off its troubled U.S. Chrysler business.
“A substantial cut in network size, combined with subcontracting and a focus on international services (revenues from USD 4.5 billion to USD 1.7 billion), is the most logical outcome, we think,” the firm said.
Morgan Stanley’s call follows a similar plea late last month from Bear Stearns, which argues the losses in the United States are eating into Deutsche Post’s overall value to shareholders.
Morgan Stanley went a step further, however, and suggested Deutsche Post may be close to making the same decision. With a new chief financial officer at DP, the firm wrote, “we sense management has stepped up a gear in terms of addressing investors’ longstanding sore point — the U.S. business.”
