German supply chain management company, Deutsche Post DHL Group, has reported preliminary earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of €1,765 billion for Q3 2021.
This would bring the EBIT of the first nine months of 2021 to around €5,760 billion.
This includes a one-off effect of €-179 million for the second Covid-19 bonus (Q3 2020: €-163 million), which will be paid in the fourth quarter.
Against the backdrop of the excellent business development, the group will revise upward its outlook for EBIT and free cash flow for FY 2021. In addition, the mid-term guidance for FY 2023 will be increased on 4 November 2021.
“In the first nine months of the current year, we have already exceeded previous year’s full-year result,” said Deutsche Post DHL Group CEO, Frank Appel.
“Global trade accelerated significantly compared to the previous year. At the same time, shipment volumes in e-commerce remained high. Therefore we are optimistic for the oncoming peak season.
“We are now intensively preparing ourselves for potential record breaking shipment volumes in the coming weeks and have deliberately built up capacity in the third quarter, in order to be able to offer our customers continued high quality service.”
DHL divisions also achieved a significant jump in earnings.
The positive development of the group’s businesses seen in the first half of the year has continued well through the third quarter 2021. All DHL divisions significantly exceeded the previous year’s results. Volume trends in the past quarter confirm base assumptions with continued well supported B2B recovery and B2C volumes staying at high previous year levels across all major networks. At the same time the tight capacity situation both in Ocean and Air Freight markets continued.
Express: EBIT in the Express division reached around €970 million in the third quarter 2021 compared to €753 million in the previous year’s quarter.
Global Forwarding, Freight: EBIT in Global Forwarding, Freight stood at around €370 million in the third quarter 2021, also clearly ahead of previous year’s result of €155 million.
Supply Chain: EBIT at Supply Chain came in at around €140 million in the third quarter 2021, significantly above last year’s third quarter result which stood at €112 million.
eCommerce Solutions: eCommerce Solutions recorded EBIT of around €90 million in the third quarter 2021, significantly above last year’s third quarter result which stood at €76 million.
Post & Parcel Germany: EBIT in Post & Parcel Germany in the third quarter 2021 was around €300 million (Q3 2020: €320 million).
The continued positive business development is underpinned by a continued equally strong development of cash flow; free cash flow in the third quarter 2021 amounted to more than €1.0 billion (Q3 2020: €1,264 billion). For the first nine months of 2021 free cash flow stands at more than €3.1 billion and significantly exceeds the previous year result (9M 2020: €1,460 billion).
Earnings and FCF outlook will reportedly be revised upwards based on dynamic business performance.
In light of the continued positive earnings momentum also in the third quarter 2021, management will raise guidance for FY 2021 Group EBIT and FCF, driven by the strong development in the DHL divisions. Also, the mid-term guidance for FY 2023 will be subject to upward revision.
The Q3 2021 results are expected to be published on 4 November 2021.
Earlier this year, DHL launched warehouses in New Zealand.