DHL earns less in the quarter, but its turnover increases

Logistics giant DHL saw its turnover increase in the third quarter despite the slowdown in global trade.

But in the end, the Bonn group earned less than a year ago. DHL now hopes that Christmas sales will be booming.

The Bonn group recorded a 6.2 percent increase in turnover in the third quarter, to 20.6 billion euros. Profit after minority interests amounted to 751 million euros, DHL said on Tuesday. A year ago, it was still 807 million euros. Operating profit (Ebit) stagnated at around 1.3 billion euros. The mail and parcel business in Germany posted losses, as did the international freight business.

Last week, DHL CEO Tobias Meyer was forced to cut annual targets for the first time since his tenure began in May 2023, and also lowered the medium-term outlook. DHL had thus lowered its operating profit (Ebit) forecast for 2024 to more than 5.8 billion euros. Previously, the Bonn company had envisaged a range of 6 to 6.6 billion euros. This result could even be lower than last year: in 2023, the group still reported an Ebit of 6.3 billion euros. After nine months, the key figure was four billion euros (compared to 4.7 the previous year).

(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, written by Olaf Brenner. For any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for Politics and economics) or [email protected] (for Business and markets).