The DHL Group’s freight division is paying tribute to the general market weakness. Revenue declined in both air and sea freight.
The Global Forwarding, Freight division suffered significant losses in the third quarter. Lower volumes and rates led to a drop in turnover of a good 40%. The division still reported revenue of € 307 million. [ds_preview]
793,000 TEU were transported by ship compared to 796,000 TEU in the previous second quarter and 729,000 TEU in the first three months of the year. While the transport volume stabilized, the gross profit per unit fell from 523 in the first quarter to 426 most recently.
DHL Group falls short of previous year’s result
The figures for the DHL Group as a whole also fell short of the previous year‘s figures. Revenue amounted to €19.4 billion (Q3 2022: €24 billion) and the operating result (EBIT) was €1.4 billion (Q3 2022: €2 billion). In addition to lower freight volumes and rates, business was negatively impacted by exchange rate and fuel cost effects, the Group reported.
“Global trade has normalized after the pandemic-related boom, and the macroeconomic recovery has so far failed to materialize, even against the backdrop of higher interest rates and geopolitical crises,” says Tobias Meyer, CEO DHL Group.
In total, DHL Group generated a net profit of €807 million in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2022: €1.2 billion). Basic earnings per share in the same period amounted to €0.68 after €1.01 in the previous year.
The Group will continue to invest in growth markets and fields, according to the statement. Gross expenditure (capex) amounted to € 871 million in the third quarter (Q3 2022: € 958 million). In addition to investments in low-emission logistics infrastructure, the focus was on the automation and digitalization of operational processes.
DHL expects EBIT of between € 5.7 billion and € 6.1 billion for the year as a whole. For 2025, the Group then expects earnings of between € 7.0 billion and € 8.0 billion.
