What the new intends to do with the company remains unclear. Hardly anyone expects larger experiments. Expensive acquisitions like Schenker seem premature. “Continuing as it is” could have fatal consequences in some cases. Looking at the company’s individual divisions, the picture emerges of a group that has been able to skilfully spread its risks in recent years. At least in most cases.
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Meyer hardly needs to worry about the most important division, DHL Express. For a long time the group’s problem child, urgent overnight deliveries are today’s profit maker. The group now achieves almost half of its earnings with what was once a niche product. Especially during and after Corona, the management around John Pearson had reduced the gap to the market pioneer UPS. The efficiency of each individual parcel delivery has been increased, also because customers are increasingly ordering online and want their goods immediately. The current economic dip will also be a challenge for Express, believes Moody’s analyst Lorenzo Re. “In the medium term, the division remains the big profit generator.”