The world’s largest courier company has reported a strong start to the year with better-than-expected results. Deutsche Post DHL Group said EBIT tripled to about €1.9 billion for the first quarter of 2021, causing the company to raise its outlook for the financial year.
The good news was felt across all the company’s divisions, with B2C shipment volumes remaining high while B2B recovery continued. The good start to the year also represented a continuation of the company’s strong finish in Q4 2020.
Deutsche Post DHL Group CEO Frank Appel said: “The start to the new financial year was more dynamic than ever. It proves that we have successfully geared our business to the right growth drivers. “One year into the pandemic we experienced in the first quarter of 2021 a sustained momentum in e-commerce and a significant stabilization in global trade with increasing air- and sea-freight volumes. Consequently, all divisions reported a significant jump in earnings above market expectations. “Global trade continues to recover and vaccine distribution is in full swing which makes me very optimistic for the rest of 2021 and beyond.”
He added all divisions are well-positioned to take advantage of the continued boom in e-commerce which was helping drive global trade.
As a result, the group has revised its guidance for 2021, with group EBIT expected to be “significantly” above €5.6 billion, as opposed to the original forecast which simply stated it would be “more than” the predicted sum.
