Deutsche Post’s 2007 net profit down 28%

Deutsche Post’s 2007 net profit down 28%

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Deutsche Post World Net, owners of DHL, today reported a 27.5 percent drop in net income after minorities of 1.39 billion euros ($2.04 billion), which the German conglomerate said was largely due to a 594 million-euro fourth quarter writedown on fixed assets in the DHL Express Americas division.
   The group’s reported earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) were down 17.3 percent at 3.87 billion euros ($4.7 billion), while revenue gained 4.9 percent to 60.55 billion euros ($93.4 billion).
   Deutsche Post's logistics division, comprising DHL Exel Supply Chain and DHL Global Forwarding, saw EBIT growth of 27.4 percent to 957 million euros ($1.41 billion) on a 5.5 percent revenue gain to 25.74 billion euros ($37.85 billion).
   The fourth quarter writedown resulted in the express division posting an operating loss of 174 million euros ($255 million), compared to a profit of 288 million euros in 2006. Express sales were up 3.1 percent to 13.87 billion euros ($20.4 million).
   Deutsche Post said its global express shipping volume gained 4.2 percent in 2007. In Europe, revenue grew 3.8 percent to 6.6 billion euros ($9.7 billion), while in the Americas region, revenue fell 4.9 percent to 4.2 billion euros ($6.2 billion) due to negative currency effects.

Appel

   “The 2007 results again demonstrate the strength of the group’s platform,” said Frank Appel, new chairman and chief executive officer, at a press conference in Bonn. “We want to continue to build on this basis by enforcing an even stronger customer focus as well as a closer collaboration among our individual businesses and employees on all levels.”
   Appel confirmed the board of management would propose to raise the 2007 dividend by 20 percent to 0.90 euros. “Our focus remains on organic growth and improving cash generation and cash payout to shareholders,” he said.
   Deutsche Post expects 2008 EBIT excluding non-recurring effects of about 4.2 billion euros and pre-tax profit of about 3.2 billion euros. The group is targeting EBIT of about 1.05 billion euros from logistics and some 500 million euros from the express division.