As the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country, people stayed home and shops stayed closed, and so people shopped online and sent packages in the post. For Deutsche Post, this resulted in a record profit year.  

1,8 billion parcels transported in 2021

With a boom in online trading causing record amounts of packages and parcels to be posted across Germany and the rest of the world, in 2021 the Deutsche Post DHL group brought home the highest profit in the company’s history. 

Last year, the international company posted a profit of around 5,1 billion euros - a 69,6 percent increase on 2020’s 3,1 billion euros. Total sales grew by 22,5 percent to 81,7 billion euros, 60 billion of which came from markets outside of Germany. Overall, the company transported a record 1,8 billion parcels, breaking the previous record set in 2020 of 1,6 billion parcels. 

“Never before has Deutsche Post DHL Group transported so much freight, express mail and packages worldwide,” said CEO Frank Appel. 

Deutsche Post expects growth to continue in 2022

Company bosses do not expect this growth to continue as rapidly in 2022, but they have made cautiously optimistic predictions. Deutsche Post Chief Financial Officer Melanie Kreiss said that parcel volumes will likely fall in the first half of the year compared to 2021. 

“We are optimistic that global and online trade… will continue to grow - but not as strongly as in the previous year,” Appel explained. “The outlook remains positive, even based on the new heights that have been reached.”

For this year, the group expects earnings before interest and taxes to be about the same as in 2021, although this estimate does not take into account the impact of the war in Ukraine on global economic growth.