BERLIN, May 5 (Xinhua) -- German mail and logistics company Deutsche Post DHL Group said Wednesday that its consolidated net profit jumped to almost 1.2 billion euros (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter (Q1) of fiscal year 2021, "making it the strongest opening quarter ever."
Revenues in Q1 increased by 22 percent year-on-year to almost 18.9 billion euros as all divisions of Deutsche Post achieved growth, according to the company.
"All five of our divisions are on track for growth and are ideally positioned to benefit from the continuing boom in e-commerce and the resurgence in global trade," said Frank Appel, chief executive officer (CEO) of Deutsche Post DHL Group, in a statement.
Deutsche Post's business with express deliveries increased revenues by 32.5 percent year-on-year to 5.5 billion euros in Q1. Volumes in the "time-definite international express (TDI) business achieved double-digit percentage growth in all regions of the world."
The company's global transport business, Global Forwarding, Freight, saw revenues grow 32.7 percent to almost 4.8 billion euros in an "environment characterized by continuing capacity shortages on the international transport markets," Deutsche Post noted.
In a "challenging environment" with increasing competition for available transport capacity, air freight volumes of Deutsche Post's transport business increased by 18.2 percent, while ocean freight volumes increased by 8.8 percent. Markets in Asia were the "main driver" of this development, according to the company.
Revenues and earnings in the company's post and parcel business in Germany were again "driven by the continued strength of e-commerce" as ongoing restrictions on stationary retail shops and the resulting shift to online business, Deutsche Post noted.
The company's cross-border post and parcel business "benefited both from growth in mail volumes, particularly from Asia and Europe, and from increases in parcel shipments."
Against the backdrop of the "good earnings performance" in Q1, Deutsche Post significantly increased its earnings guidance for 2021 and now expects earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to exceed 6.7 billion euros. Enditem