DB Schenker earnings grow on higher volumes

The results were not enough to offset declines in other segments, which pushed first-half profits for parent Deutsche Bahn down 27.9 percent.    DB Schenker, the freight forwarding and logistics subsidiary of German rail conglomerate Deutsche Bahn AG, saw its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grow 3 percent to $314 million euros (U.S. $367.9 million) in the first half of 2018, according to the company’s most recent financial statements.
   When adjusted for changes in foreign currency rates, revenues at the Essen, Germany-based company jumped 6.7 percent year-over-year to 8.65 billion euros, thanks to volume growth across all three of DB Schenker’s reporting segments. Air freight volumes climbed 5.9 percent to 649,400 metric tons compared with the first half of 2017, European land transport shipments grew 3.5 percent to 52.5 million units and ocean freight volumes increased 2.3 percent to just under 1.1 million TEUs.
   However, the strong showing for DB Schenker was not enough to offset declines in other segments, which pushed first-half net profits for parent Deutsche Bahn down 27.9 percent to 562 million euros, even as group revenues rose 3.8 percent to 21.9 billion euros.
   DB Cargo, Deutsche Bahn’s freight rail subsidiary, posted an EBITDA loss of 1 million euros in the first six months of the year, compared with an 82 million euros gain the year before, on revenues that fell 2.3 percent to 2.25 billion euros. The division transported 129.4 million metric tons of freight during the first half, a year-over-year decline of 7 percent.
   Richard Lutz, group chairman and CEO, said the DB Schenker logistics business is “doing well,” but added that DB Cargo “did not have an easy first half.”
   “Rail strikes in France made things particularly difficult,” he said in a speech accompanying the release of the first-half results. “A serious storm in January was an additional challenge. We also faced problems of our own making, however, and we will be addressing those problems in a lasting way.”