Smiling faces at the balance sheet press conference: Tobias Meyer (l), designated CEO of Deutsche Post, and Frank Appel (r), still incumbent CEO of Deutsche Post
Photo: dpa/Oliver Berg
Deutsche Post once again grew rapidly in the past financial year. With sales of 94.4 billion euros, the group was able to surpass its record from the previous year by 15 percent. In 2021, the company had achieved sales of just 81 billion euros. The leap in sales resulted entirely from international business, said CEO Frank Appel at an online press conference on Thursday.
There was also a record in profit: Overall, Swiss Post achieved a new record with an operating result (EBIT) of EUR 8.4 billion (2021: EUR 8.0 billion). During Appel’s 15-year tenure, Swiss Post’s sales increased by half and the dividend tripled.
Deutsche Post AG was formed between 1989 and 1995 through the privatization of the Bundespost. Other parts of the agency were spun off as Deutsche Telekom and Postbank. The latter, the “blue post”, now belongs to Deutsche Bank. After the turn of the century, the »yellow post« was listed on the stock exchange. According to the company, the state credit institution for reconstruction still holds 20.49 percent of the shares, so it no longer has a blocking minority.
The largest individual shareholders are the US financial services providers Blackrock (4.92 percent) and Goldman Sachs (4.23 percent). On request, the Post did not provide any information on the share of foreign shareholders in the share capital. As with other companies in the German stock index, it should be around 70 percent. The Post announced that it would buy back its own shares for EUR 2.2 billion this year and next in order to stimulate the share price.
The group has been operating under the name Deutsche Post DHL Group since 2015. The parcel and letter express service DHL International had previously been taken over and has since been expanded into a logistics business. Today, the group, with more than 600,000 employees, sees itself as “the world‘s leading logistics group”. In air freight and on the high seas, Deutsche Post is number two worldwide. Swiss Post is the industry leader in so-called contract logistics, which is used to organize global supply chains for industrial companies.
The Post is now active in over 220 countries and territories around the world. Against this background, the German home market continues to lose in importance – as does incidentally also in the case of its “sister” Deutsche Telekom. Last year, 14 billion letters, half of them advertising mail, and 1.7 billion parcels were delivered within the Federal Republic. In 2022, however, the Post & Parcels Germany division only contributed 14 percent to the result. In 2008, when Appel was appointed to the top of the group, it was still 53 percent.
Nevertheless, the domestic division is profitable. Parcel volumes were 8.3 percent below the previous year. Letter volumes continued to decline slightly in 2022. Cost increases, mainly due to increased energy prices, had a negative impact on profits. With at least 1.3 billion euros (2021: 1.7 billion euros), the division still contributed to the group’s profit.
Swiss Post is hoping for better framework conditions from the new postal law. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck recently presented a key issues paper. However, the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center fears a price increase through the back door. The previous postal law of 1997 had secured Deutsche Post exclusive rights for a long time.