Deutsche Post DHL has had a €1 billion increase in Q1 revenues as against 2016. This is the strongest first quarter in the company’s history. Revenues hit €14.9 billion – profits were also up strongly.

Frank Appel, CEO, Deutsche Post DHL Group, said: “Following a record year in 2016, the upward trend has continued at Deutsche Post DHL Group this year. We reported growth in all four divisions in the first quarter: Our strategy is working, and we are confident that we will achieve our targets for 2017.”

The Q1 operating profit of €885m was up 1.4% on last year.

Express drove much of the growth, with a double digit profit growth in its own right. Performance was strong across the board even without Express’s success.

“All four divisions have been positioned to leverage growth opportunities, particularly in the e-commerce sector,” said Deutsche Post DHL. “The company has successfully expanded its Parcel business into international markets, and has also introduced new solutions in its Express business to continue capitalizing on the booming online commerce sector. The Global Forwarding, Freight and Supply Chain divisions are more streamlined and efficient today and therefore positioned for sustainable growth.”

Appel added: “We are developing trend-setting innovations, moving into new fields of business and leveraging the opportunities presented by digitalization. Our company is already ideally positioned to achieve its strategic and financial targets for 2020.”

Revenue in the Post – eCommerce – Parcel (PeP) division increased by 6.4% to €4.5bn. This was driven by the growth in the eCommerce – Parcel business unit, where revenues was up 17.5% to €2.0bn.

Breaking the results down even further, there were revenue gains of 6.1% for Parcel Germany, 70.3% for Parcel Europe and 13.7% for eCommerce.

As one would expect, a key factor behind the surge in Parcel Europe revenue was the inclusion of the UK Mail business in the unit’s consolidated results. UK Mail, which was acquired by Deutsche Post DHL in December, generated Q1 revenues of €139m.

Deutsche Post DHL commented: “The integration of UK Mail shows that PeP is making good progress in the expansion of its ‘United Parcel Nations of Europe’.”

Meanwhile, the division also extended its European network to include Spain and Portugal.

Deutsche Post DHL said that the “success story” was continuing in the Express division, where revenue rose by 13% to €3.6bn.  
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