In addition to the growing online trade in the coronavirus pandemic, Deutsche Post is now benefiting from the fact that world trade is also picking up significantly again.

The container ships are fully loaded, which is why many more business customers are currently sending heavy goods by plane.

As a result, Swiss Post not only achieves significantly higher prices in its express and freight business, but also uses its machines to better capacity, which in turn improves earnings.

In the Express division, which contributes more than half of the Group's profit, commercial transport volumes rose by a quarter.

Deliveries to private customers, who were still doing business at the height of the pandemic, only increased by 10 percent.

Jonas Jansen

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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"The global economy is in full swing, which is leading to a significant increase in the volume of shipments," said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post, in a conference call on Thursday. “We also believe we have gained market share in ocean freight,” said Appel. In the division, sales increased by more than 61 percent, while the transported volumes increased by 14.5 percent.

Swiss Post is feeling the dynamism in all business areas. "We are growing very quickly and the global economy is helping us there," said Appel. The DHL Express and Freight divisions alone achieved sales of more than 1 billion euros in the second quarter than in the same period of the previous year. Overall, consolidated sales rose by 22.2 percent in the second quarter to 19.5 billion euros, after 15.9 billion in the same period of the previous year. The operating result (EBIT) in the first half of the year is almost 4 billion euros, a figure that the company would have been happy about for the full year a few years ago. The bottom line is that Deutsche Post achieved a group profit of 1.3 billion euros in the second quarter after 525 million euros in the same period of the previous year. The undiluted earnings per share more than doubled to EUR 1.05,after 43 cents a year ago.

Robots bring more efficiency

Automation also contributes to this, for example in the “Supply Chain” division, which takes on storage services for electronics, food and automotive groups.

With robots and other technical aids as well as increased data analysis, the group achieved an EBIT margin of 6 percent, which, according to Appel, is above its own target.

The momentum in the parcel business in Germany has weakened somewhat.

That had grown by more than a fifth in the past quarters, and in the past three months only an increase of 13.1 percent was recorded.

“We will continue to see structural growth, but of course not at the same rate as last year,” said Appel.

For the Christmas business, which traditionally has the highest parcel volume, the company will again hire more employees. However, the sending volume is currently around the highest level of 2019, which is why Swiss Post is keeping more staff even in the comparatively quieter summer. "We will not shut down as much, even if it is at the expense of short-term productivity," said Chief Financial Officer Melanie Kreis. At the same time, the group is ramping up investments. "We have to expand capacities to keep up with the volume," said Kreis.

CEO Appel confirmed on Thursday the short and medium-term earnings forecast that the group had raised in July. "We see a very good utilization of our networks, a significant jump in earnings compared to 2020 is to be expected," said Appel. For the current financial year 2021, a record result of more than seven billion euros is still expected. This also includes a corona bonus of 300 euros each for the 550,000 employees around the world, which costs the company around 200 million. This should be booked in the fourth quarter. The medium-term earnings outlook for 2023 is unchanged at more than 7.4 billion euros.