Deutsche Post DHL reports 71% drop in profit

Deutsche Post DHL reports 71% drop in profit    Deutsche Post DHL said it had second quarter net income after subtracting minority interests of 66 million euros ($93.7 million), 71 percent less than in the same 2008 period.
   Revenue was 11.1 billion euros ($15.8 billion), 17.7 percent less than in the same 2008 period.
   The company said underlying earnings before interest and tax, excluding non-recurring effects, were 257 million euros ($365 million) in the second quarter, down 37.8 percent from the period a year earlier.
   “Business development in the second quarter confirms our view, expressed after the first quarter, that in percentage terms volume declines may have seen the bottom,” the company said in a statement accompanying its results. “Still, the group doesn’t expect a substantial recovery in world trade in coming months. This scenario includes continued risks to individual customers and industries, be it insolvencies or extended factory closures.”
   The company said it had “succeeded in cushioning the effects of the global economic crisis through its comprehensive cost-cutting program and stabilized earnings in the second quarter. Before non-recurring effects, all corporate divisions were profitable in the second quarter with DHL and Deutsche Post contributing nearly equal amounts to operating earnings.” The company said it had achieved cost reductions of 413 million euros ($587 million) in the first half.

Appel

   “Our first-half figures prove that our vigorous cost-cutting efforts are having a tangible impact throughout the group and we cannot let up now,” said Frank Appel, chief executive officer at the company’s half-year press conference in Bonn. “We’re successfully navigating through the crisis. What’s crucial is that we have not only taken short-term steps but are also sustainably strengthening both pillars of the group — mail and logistics.”
   By division revenue in the second quarter was:
   ' Mail, 3.2 billion euros ($4.5 billion), down 6.7 percent.
   ' Express 2.5 billion euros ($3.6 billion), down 28.6 percent.
   ' Global forwarding and freight, 2.6 billion euros ($3.7 billion), down 26.9 percent.
   ' Supply Chain, 3.1 billion euros ($4.4 billion), down 8.8 percent.