Deutsche Post’s 1st quarter “on target” despite 18.4% net income drop

Deutsche Post’s 1st quarter “on target” despite 18.4% net income drop

Deutsche Post’s 1st quarter “on target” despite 18.4% net income drop

Deutsche Post World Net today posted first quarter net income of 407 million euros ($647 million), down 18.4 percent compared to the same period in 2007.
   Nevertheless the German owners of DHL said the quarterly results were “on target.”
   'Given the working day effect and the faltering U.S. economy, business was very satisfactory in the first quarter,' said Chief Financial Officer John Allan. 'Both the express and the logistics businesses grew organically and we made good progress in our ‘Roadmap to Value’ capital markets program.'

Allan

   The group’s reported earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the first three months of 2008 were down 14.7 percent at 851 million euros ($1.35 billion), while revenue gained 1.8 percent to 15.75 billion euros ($25 billion).
   Deutsche Post's logistics division, comprising DHL Exel Supply Chain and DHL Global Forwarding, saw an EBIT decline of 13.9 percent to 173 million euros ($275 million) on a slim 0.3 percent revenue gain to 6.2 billion euros ($9.9 billion).
   “Deutsche Post World Net is aware of the uncertainties in the world economic development. Even so, at this point in time, the group has no reason to change its full-year earnings forecast of around 4.2 billion euros in EBIT before non-recurring effects and around 3.2 billion euros in pretax profit,” the group said in a statement.