Deutsche Post has another record year behind it, but has weakened in its core business of mail and parcel delivery. In the Post division
The company justified the weak development in letter and parcel shipping with higher costs for energy, transport and seasonal workers. According to the annual figures that have now been published, sales in the core business fell by 3.8 percent to 16.78 billion euros.
In contrast to the domestic market, the logistics giant’s business is developing splendidly on the global stage and in other areas. The freight division increased sales by almost a third to 30.2 billion euros and supply chain services grew by a sixth to 16.4 billion euros – both divisions became significantly more profitable. The situation was different in the express division: Although sales increased, operating profit fell slightly. It was similar with the foreign parcel business.
CEO Frank Appel commented on the positive overall result: “It was a very successful year, from which we as a group are in excellent shape”. Appel continues: “In times of war, inflation and the energy crisis, this is an enormous achievement by our employees and cannot be taken for granted.”
With a view to the weakening core business, the manager said that for long-term success you need a “balance between a noticeable wage increase and economic viability”. “Only together can we set the course for a successful transformation of the postal and parcel business in Germany without endangering jobs in the long term.”
This statement was aimed at the current collective bargaining conflict, in which the Verdi union is demanding 15 percent more money, rejecting a significantly lower offer from Post and a ballot among the Post workforce
After the post office benefited primarily from the high air and sea freight rates last year, the management expects business to cool down in the current year: The operating result (EBIT) will amount to between six and seven billion, depending on the economic trend estimated and thus significantly lower than 2022. In the medium term, however, the Dax group wants to get back to the record level of 2022.
By the middle of the decade, an operating result of more than eight billion euros is expected again. This means that the recovery in business after an expected dip in the coming months is being postponed further into the future. So far, Swiss Post had assumed that it would already earn more than 8.5 billion euros operationally by 2024. Analysts had been skeptical about this beforehand.
press release
