EBIT falls 71pc at Deutsche Post DHL

EBIT at Deutsche Post DHL fell from €677m in the third quarter of 2014 to €197m this year – a drop of 71 per cent, mainly due to a €345m write-off in the Global Forwarding, Freight division.

EBIT in this division declined, not including one-off effects, to €47m. Including negative one-off effects, EBIT was €-337m.

Operating earnings at Express grew by 19.3 per cent to €364m. EBIT in the Supply Chain division in the third quarter totalled €101m, compared to €110m in the prior-year period.

At €14.4 billion, revenues in the third quarter increased 3 per cent. The DHL divisions contributed growth of 3.3 per cent and the PeP division an increase of 2.0 per cent to this result.

Group CEO Frank Appel said: “2015 is a transition year from our Strategy 2015 to Strategy 2020. We are working systematically to position each of our business divisions optimally and to achieve the long-term targets projected in Strategy 2020. We have recorded a number of one-off effects, which will de-risk and strengthen our ability to meet or exceed those targets. We expect that the benefits will begin to materialise already in 2016.”

In the first nine months of the year, group revenue ros 6.4 per cent to €43.9 billion. Group operating earnings declined in the first nine months by 29.4 per cent to €1.45 billion (2014: €2.06 billion). Consolidated net profit was €870m (2014: €1.4 billion).

The write off in DHL Global Forwarding relates to the New Forwarding Environment (NFE). In its trading statement, the group said: “Given the decreased likelihood that DHL Global Forwarding will be able to realise benefits from the originally pursued NFE system due to continued issues, the group has recognise one-off effects of a total of €345m in combination with defining the new IT renewal roadmap. This sum relates to the €308m write-down of investments to the NFE system that were activated on the balance sheet, as well as €37m in provisions which cover expenses during an expected roll back of NFE in the countries where it is piloted.

“The division has also booked €39m in one-off effects related primarily to a legal dispute with a joint venture partner. Overall, these one-off effects have contributed to a decline in the Global Forwarding, Freight division’s EBIT to €-337m (2014: €71m ). Factoring out these effects, EBIT was €47m, a decrease of 33.8 per cent over the prior-year period.”