Earnings call transcript: Deutsche Post Q2 2025 shows stock surge amid steady guidance

Deutsche Post AG reported its earnings for Q2 2025, showing a 6% year-over-year increase in EBIT despite a slight revenue decline, excluding foreign exchange impacts. The company maintained its full-year guidance amid global trade volatility. Following the earnings release, Deutsche Post’s stock rose by 5.34%, reflecting investor optimism about the company’s strategic initiatives and cost management efforts. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company appears undervalued based on its Fair Value calculation, with a market capitalization of approximately $51 billion and strong financial health metrics.

Key Takeaways

• EBIT increased 6% year-over-year, showcasing strong operational performance.
• Revenue declined slightly, excluding foreign exchange impacts, but cash generation remained robust.
• Stock price surged by 5.34% in pre-market trading following the earnings announcement.
• Deutsche Post maintained its full-year guidance despite global trade challenges.
• Strategic investments continue in growth areas such as e-commerce and healthcare.

Company Performance

Deutsche Post demonstrated resilience in Q2 2025, with a 6% year-over-year increase in EBIT. This growth was driven by consistent performance across its business segments, particularly in the Express division, which saw EBIT increase for the fourth consecutive quarter. Despite a 1% decline in revenue, excluding foreign exchange effects, the company maintained a strong cash generation, returning €3 billion to shareholders in the first half of the year. InvestingPro data shows impressive financial metrics, including a healthy 16.6% gross profit margin and robust free cash flow yield of 13%. The logistics giant continues to navigate global trade volatility, with the U.S. remaining its largest market.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: €21.16 billion (forecasted, with actual results not explicitly disclosed)
• EBIT: Increased by 6% year-over-year
• Cash returns: €3 billion to shareholders in H1 2025
• Express division: EBIT growth for the fourth consecutive quarter

Market Reaction

Following the announcement, Deutsche Post’s stock price rose by 5.34%, reflecting positive investor sentiment. The stock’s last close value was €39.12, and it reached a new level in pre-market trading. InvestingPro highlights two key strengths: the stock’s historically low price volatility and its impressive 25-year streak of consistent dividend payments. This movement indicates confidence in the company’s ability to manage costs and capitalize on strategic growth opportunities, despite a challenging global trade environment. InvestingPro subscribers have access to 12 additional exclusive insights about Deutsche Post’s market position and future potential.

Outlook & Guidance

Deutsche Post maintained its full-year 2025 guidance, signaling confidence in its strategic direction and operational efficiency. The company is preparing for the peak season with an adaptive demand surcharge and continues to invest in growth areas, including life sciences, healthcare, and geographic expansion. With a P/E ratio of 14.1x and an EV/EBITDA of 8.3x, the company shows attractive valuation metrics according to InvestingPro’s comprehensive analysis available in its Pro Research Report, which provides deep-dive analysis of 1,400+ top stocks. However, it noted a potential €200 million EBIT risk from changes in trade regulations between China and the U.S.

Executive Commentary

Melanie Kreis, CFO of Deutsche Post, emphasized the company’s proactive approach to managing volatility, stating, "We are effectively managing short-term volatility through cost and yield actions." She also highlighted the company’s commitment to supporting customers, saying, "Our ambition is to support customers in keeping their businesses going."

Risks and Challenges

• Global trade volatility remains a significant challenge, impacting B2B volumes.
• Changes in de minimis regulations between China and the U.S. could pose a €200 million EBIT risk.
• The company is navigating a 7% reduction in air capacity and adjustments in delivery networks.
• Potential macroeconomic pressures could affect demand in key markets.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts questioned the impact of de minimis changes on the company’s operations. Deutsche Post’s management acknowledged the uncertainty but emphasized their focus on cost management and selective growth opportunities. Additionally, there was interest in the leadership transition within the Global Forwarding division and how it might influence future strategies.

Full transcript - Deutsche Post AG (DHL) Q2 2025:

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome, and thank you for joining the DHL group conference call. Please note, this call will be recorded. You can find the privacy notice on dhl.com. Throughout today’s presentation, all participants will be in a listen only mode.

The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, we ask that you please use the raised hand function at the bottom of your Zoom screen. If you have dialed in, please select 9 to raise your hand and 6 to unmute. Instructions will also follow at the time of the q and a. I would now like to turn the call over to Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations.

Please go ahead.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group: Thank you, and a warm welcome from my side to our Q2 call to everyone out there. I take it you have the material that we released this morning in front of you. We see that we can make this a straightforward exercise today with the presentation by Melanie Kreis, our CFO, and afterwards, the Q and A. And with that, over to you, Melanie.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Thank you very much, Martin, and good morning. A very warm welcome to all of you out there also from my side. Thank you for joining our Q2 twenty twenty five investor call. I will, as usual, provide a short review of the key numbers and observations for the quarter, and I look forward to addressing your questions afterwards.

So starting with Page two. Page two summarizes our key observations for the 2025. We indeed saw an impact of lower volumes in global trade. However, we have managed this volatility effectively, driving a strong performance in our logistics portfolio with an increase in Q2 EBIT and sustained strong cash generation. This outcome shows the effectiveness of our cost actions, both in terms of adjusting capacities to cyclical fluctuations and in implementing structural cost measures under our Fit for Growth program.

And this allows us to continue investing into attractive structural growth opportunities, aligned with the priorities outlined in our Strategy 02/1930. More details on both inorganic and organic investments will follow at the end of my presentation. Let me start on Page three with some observations on global trade, as I know that this is on everybody’s mind these days. The graph on the left illustrates the diversification of global trade. By destination, The U.

S. Remains the largest destination market. And as expected, this is the area where we have seen the most significant impact on trade flows in Q2. Nevertheless, it is the essence of global trade that it finds its way to keep flowing, as we will also see in the Express Regional development later on. Our ambition as a most diversified global logistics company is to support our customers in keeping their businesses going and in enabling them to continue leveraging the opportunities from the diversification of global trade also under the current circumstances.

So flows have been extremely volatile throughout the second quarter from week to week and across trade lanes. Page four summarizes what this means for our Q2 volumes. When we filter out the weekly noise, B2B volumes were eventually slightly lower across modes. However, there was no massive decline nor did we see a fundamental mode shift. E commerce was a structural trend and continues to drive better momentum in B2C generally, with China U.

S. De minimis being the only market segment where we see a significant impact on trading volumes. Page five highlights how we translated these external conditions into 6% year over year increase in Q2 EBIT for our group portfolio. Express has really excelled in cost flexibility and yield management, delivering the fourth consecutive quarter of EBIT increase despite an underlying volume decline. And I will come back to the drivers of this performance in more detail in a minute.

As shown at the in the line at the bottom of the page, we have also started to book first one off costs related to our Fit for Growth program in the second quarter impacting Express, DGFF and e commerce. And this is one reason why DGFF has seen lower EBIT conversion in the quarter with the extreme volatility and overall weaker demand also dampening GP generation and productivity in the sector. Supply chain continues to demonstrate a resilient performance with EBIT margin at 7%, and that is after adjusting for the positive net M and A one off we had in the quarter. E commerce booked €8,000,000 cost of change, so was slightly down year over year also excluding these costs but in line with expectations, reflecting, as you know, continued investments into the structural e commerce trend. And last but certainly not least, in P and P, we are very pleased to see our targeted cost actions based on structural network changes, providing the necessary benefits to manage the ongoing structural volume shift from mail to parcel, which we saw as expected continue in the second quarter.

The mentioned cost of change and supply chain one off benefit are summarized in the EBIT bridge on Page six, with positive and negative nonrecurring effects roughly balancing out for a positive €4,000,000 net effect in the quarter. The positive one offs relate to M and A with a small disposal in Corporate Functions and a larger €54,000,000 net positive M and A effect in Supply Chain, where the positive contribution comes from the first time full consolidation of our ASMO joint venture in Saudi Arabia. We also had a positive free cash flow effect of roughly €100,000,000 in net cash from M and A from ASMO in this quarter. And now it gets technical, this will reverse out, becoming cash flow neutral eventually with no impact on our overall free cash flow generation. However, the current accounting assumption is that the outflow will go through different lines in the cash flow statement, and that technically will lead to a net negative impact of €100,000,000 on the free cash flow, excluding M and A view.

We will flag that transparently as it unfolds in the remainder of the year. The cost of change of €58,000,000 relate to structural cost measures in the three divisions mentioned. But what is important to understand is that not all Fit for Growth measures do require cost of change. To the contrary, we initiated the first Fit for Growth measures last year without any cost of change, And we are seeing Fit for Growth benefits clearly supporting our EBIT performance, I would say, even better than initially expected, particularly in Express and E and P. On Page seven, we present some examples of relevant cost KPIs, which we are actively steering and tracking for Express.

And you can see here that across the network, we see really positive, I. E, declines in all categories, which is a combination of efficient capacity management and structural changes under our Fit for Growth program. Next to the strong yield management, these cost measures are the primary driver of the increase in Express Q2 EBIT despite the year over year volume decline. As we mentioned on Page eight, we have significantly reduced our air capacity and related costs. Beyond the overall 7% reduction, which you can see highlighted on this page again, we have furthermore flexed capacity across the network to adapt to the volatile regional trade flows.

As such, you see on the left side of the page the expected strongest decline in shipments into The U. S, to which we have responded with a significant reduction in airlift and in local pickup and delivery capacity. At the same time, the positive year over year developments in APAC and Middle East Africa are noteworthy. Though not sufficient to drive year over year growth for total global volume, they demonstrate the high diversification of global trade as discussed earlier or simply put, there are still growth opportunities and growing trade lanes also in the current environment. Looking ahead, we expect this volatility to continue, and we also expect a usual seasonal uplift for the peak season.

And for that reason, we are currently preparing the demand surcharge 2025 with similar mechanics as last year, and we will announce the details in deep course. I have now talked about what we see in terms of the global trade environment, what it means for our volumes and how we cope with it. There is clearly still a lot of uncertainty and volatility, but based on what we know and see at the moment, we are reiterating our guidance today. We maintain a qualification around changes in tariffs on Page nine, where we continue to monitor an escalation in tariffs and trade conflicts not covered in our current assumptions. And one of the topics which we are watching here is the de minimis exemption for shipments from Rest of World into The U.

S. There have been several iterations on that topic in recent months. For example, the discontinuation of the de minimis exemption earlier in the year for four days, after which it was reinstated. Then, as you all know, we had, at the May, the abolishment of de minimis from China Hong Kong into The U. S.

And now there was a new executive order issued on July 30, which brings the timeline for the Rest of World phaseout forward to August 29 compared to a phaseout in 2017, which was foreseen in the tax bill passed just one month ago, so obviously also quite a dynamic environment with regard to de minimis. We will have to see whether the latest executive order from last Wednesday will be implemented as announced, and if yes, what substitution effects will occur. In a worst case scenario, we would see a maximum risk, a maximum risk of up to €200,000,000 on our full year ’twenty five EBIT. We decided not to include this risk into the guidance as we don’t consider this worst case scenario the likely path forward, but I want you to be aware of that topic as it is one of the many moving parts. Turning back to a more straightforward topic.

I’m particularly pleased to conclude my review with a cash flow perspective on Page 10. We see continued strong cash generation, allowing us to invest in a balanced manner across all priorities of our finance strategy. While we remain in strong CapEx control mode given current volume developments, We also continue to invest in targeted opportunities that will drive our midterm growth path, focusing on the growth topics identified by Strategy 02/1930. We have spent €3,000,000,000 on shareholder returns in the first half of the year through our dividend payment and ongoing share buyback program. And additionally, we have seized some good opportunities for targeted inorganic growth, leading to a temporary acceleration in M and A announcements and spending, fully aligned with our strategic ambitions.

You find the full list of announced acquisitions on Page 11, and you see the clear focus on the strategic topics of Life Science and Healthcare, geographic tailwinds and e commerce as well as a confirmation on the right that we pursue M and A not for sheer size or volume but as a complementary option to enhance our capabilities and market reach. But to be clear, organic investment remains the primary driver of our midterm growth plans. On Page 12, we showcase some examples of our ongoing targeted investments into organic growth opportunities, driven by the midterm structural growth topics laid out in our Strategy 02/1930. To wrap it up on Page 13, the key takeaways from our Q2 performance and current management priorities are: Not surprisingly, we are effectively managing short term volatility through cost and yield actions. And at the same time, we continue to invest into fundamentally attractive structural growth opportunities.

Given the environment, we are addressing our cost base both from a shorter term cyclical capacity angle and through structural cost reduction under our Fit for Growth program. And that is what you can quite clearly see in our Q2 numbers. So I rushed through the presentation to have enough time for your questions, and I now look forward to hearing your questions. Over to you.

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin our q and a session. If you have a question, we ask that you please use the raised hand function at the bottom of your Zoom screen. If you have dialed in, please select 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute. Once your name has been announced, please unmute and ask your question. If you want to withdraw your question, please lower your hand using the raise hand function.

Thank you. And a moment for the first question, please. Our first question comes from Andy Chu with Deutsche Bank. Andy, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Andy Chu, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Thank you. Good morning, Melanie. Good morning, Martin. Couple of questions for me, please. Terms In of the Fit for Growth benefits, could you just give us an idea of of I’m trying to try and quantify those for us.

You obviously gave us the the the cost of change. And then may maybe if we could just have a sort of word on sort of current trading, are you kind of seeing more of the same kind of run rate of of growth in the business sort of 6% at the group level? Is that kind of the run rate that you’re seeing year on year or maybe a view kind of sequentially versus Q2 as we have started Q3? You.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Andy, thank you for the questions. So on the Fit for Growth benefits, I mean, obviously, we are tracking that quite closely with internal monitoring. But I think when you then look at the ultimate effects, for me, it’s not meaningful to break out a specific number because that is also coming together with the general cost management, which we are doing. But what I can say is that it’s clearly a net positive effect in the quarter, So we are seeing bigger benefits than what we had in terms of cost of change in the quarter already.

And overall, I’m very pleased with the development. We are really ahead of schedule, and you see that particularly in Express and P and P, where yes, the team is totally focused on implementing the Fit for Growth measures. On the current trading, what did we see into July, August, beginning of the third quarter? I think you used the term more of the same, and I think that is probably the best description. We haven’t seen a significant acceleration in the growth dynamics, and it remains very volatile.

So I think more of the same is a very good summary.

Andy Chu, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Thank you.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group: Thanks, Andy. And the next caller should be Alexia.

Conference Operator: Our next question comes from Alexia Deghani with JPMorgan. Alexia, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Alexia Deghani, Analyst, JPMorgan: Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just, Melanie, to go back to the Fit for Growth comments you just made that the not positive effect is ahead of the cost of change impact. Should we expect, in the coming quarters these numbers to kind of, accelerate? Or should we kind of expect a similar pace of the cost of change and, therefore, kind of the commensurate net positive impact?

And if I can just ask related to that, are there any notable areas of the network that you’re currently using money that you can quantify and that you’re addressing? That would be helpful. And then the second question, because I didn’t quite, I I missed it. When you talked about this kind of negative scenario you wanted, the market to be aware of, is that really on the de minimis change or just more broadly on the tariffs? And how should we think about it?

Is it just for the 2025 EBIT? And does it relate with the capture of the demand surcharge in Express? Just kind of to understand what what to look out for to know whether, you know, that 200,000,000 negative happens or not. Thank you.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Thank you, Alexia. So on the Fit for Growth, yes, so we obviously expect the program to accelerate. And we do expect that we will see, again, cost of change bookings in the second quarter. For the full year, we are still in line with the overall cost of change number, so that shouldn’t go any higher.

But I do expect some more cost of change to come in the third quarter and we will flag that transparently as well. In terms of losing money, I think that is a very difficult question in a network and that is not I assume you are talking about Express and that is not how we think about it. I would say that we have really managed to make the necessary capacity adjustments on the aviation side. But you also see some numbers what we have done on the PUD side, where we are also pointing out the significant reduction we made in The U. S.

To adjust for the lower volume inflow into The U. S. So I think that is really across the network extremely well managed. Yes, to the de minimis topic, as mentioned, this is obviously one of the most volatile topics of the last months, where we have seen quite a bit of back and forth. Early July, there is a new tax bill.

It was said that rest of world de minimis would stay in place until ’7. Just four weeks later, we get an executive order which foresees the complete abolishment of de minimis rest of world by August 29. There are still many moving parts. For example, the whole question of the postal implementation of the de minimis abolishment, and that is why we now have to really watch and see, will it be implemented the way it was announced? What will be the details?

What will that mean for trade flow substitution effects, opportunities which could also arise from the whole thing. But being a conservative finance person, I, of course, pushed my team for tell me what would be the worst case scenario if this all implemented August 29 and only the negative stuff comes through, in this worst case, what number would we talk about? And that would be for 2025 up to €200,000,000 And I decided to share that number with you openly because I guess you will try to do the same type of worst case calculations. So it’s again not the likely scenario. That is why we have not included it into the guidance, but we just wanted to be as transparent as we can possibly be with all the uncertainty.

Alexia Deghani, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you, Melanie. I appreciate that. And can I just check because what is the number you expect for cost of change for the full year? Is that something you’ve discussed in the past?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. So we said that it would be kind of like up to 200,000,000. And I think looking at what we have now booked in q two, I think we will definitely stay within that number. Thank you.

Conference Moderator: Next question

Conference Operator: next question will come from Marco Lemaitre with Barclays. Marco, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Can continue.

Conference Operator: Please use the unmute button at the bottom of your Zoom screen.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group: Okay. And, again, maybe we give Marco a minute and continue with Maniba. Our

Conference Operator: next question comes from the line of Maniba Patkhani with Bank of America. Maniba, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Muniba Patkhani, Analyst, Bank of America: Good morning, Martin and Melanie. Thanks for taking my question. First one, I just wanted to ask around the demand surcharge, which you said is in planning. So if I remember correctly from last year, at this time, you’d already, I think, announced it. So kind of what are you waiting for on the demand surcharge at this point?

What are discussions with your customers like? And how should we think about it across trade lanes given the big shifts in demand compared to last year that you’ve just talked about? Because I think last year, it was more kind of on the Asia, US trade lane. So any thoughts on that would be super helpful. And then just related to fit for growth targets, I think those you’ve talked about the cost savings of over a billion run rate by the 2026.

So you’ve talked about kind of the impact this year. How do we think about it next year, both on kind of the cost of change as well as the benefits aside? Thank you.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Thank you, Muniba. So on the demand surcharge, you’re right. Last year, we announced at the August, and we then already informed our customers about the details. It went into effect September 15.

So I think we announced it so early last year, A, because it was the first time we ever did it. So now it more of a, hey, this is what we have to do in the peak season. That’s one of the reasons why we haven’t communicated the details with the customers yet. The second thing is, of course, that it is a very volatile environment out there. And the intention of the demand surcharge is to optimally balance the cost of production on the supply side with anticipated demand.

And here, we really take some time to work through the details so that we really get it right, including the right demand surcharge per trade lane, where, again, as you said, obviously, the situation is quite different on the Trans Pacific compared to what it was last year. With regard to Fit for Growth, yes, indeed, the intention is to get to a contribution of €1,000,000,000 by the 2026. That remains unchanged. And we do expect that the cost of change part is going to fall more into the current year than into next year. That is why we said at the beginning that the impact is probably just going to be a small net positive for 2025.

Looking at the progress we see, including also progress from measures which do not require cost of change, there will be a positive contribution falling into then the overall cost reduction progress, which you can see in our numbers. And that is, of course, in the current environment also needed to deliver on our overall targets for the year.

Conference Moderator: Our

Conference Operator: next question comes from Marco Lemaitre with Barclays. Marco, please unmute your line using the black bar at the bottom of your Zoom screen and ask your question.

Marco Lemaitre, Analyst, Barclays: Hi. Good morning. Can you hear me now?

Conference Moderator: Yes. We can. Good morning.

Marco Lemaitre, Analyst, Barclays: Oh, amazing. Thank you. Apologizes for that. I’ve got a couple of questions. So the first question is on your Express volumes where we’ve seen B2C volumes down 20%.

Now, I mean, if we aggregate the volume decline since 2022, ecommerce volumes in express are down 40%. Yeah. Just wondering if you could give a bit more color of what’s happening there. 20% this quarter is a very big number more than q one and the previous quarters. And then, the second question is, if you could add any comment about the change in leadership in the freight forwarding, business.

Clearly, Oscar has had has done an amazing job in supply chain. But why do you think that the know how and the skill set from supply chain is good fit also into the freight forwarding division?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Thank you, Marco. So on the Express volumes, yes, indeed, the minus 20% in B2C, leading then to overall TDI volume decline of 10% in Q2 is a higher number than what we had in previous quarters. And here, we do see the impact of the de minimis abolishment for China, Hong Kong to The U. S.

That is also what our competitors have talked about, that clearly, after May 2, there has been a significant decline on the Transpacific. I think for us, the impact of that has been a bit different to competition because we had already beforehand started managing down those volumes because for us, they weren’t the most profitable volumes. So for us, we see a combination of kind of like the de minimis impact and regular yield management. With regard to the change in DGF leadership, yes, so indeed, Tim, who is turning 60 this month, has decided to go into retirement. And Oskar is taking over Global Forwarding Freight.

So first, on the supply chain side, we have Henrik Wenter succeeding Oskar, who has done an amazing job in the supply chain division for fifteen years. It was very good results and progress in the EMEA region over the last years. So we really have a strong bench, and we’re able to easily refill that position. Oscar taking over global forwarding. I mean, first of all, when you look at Oscar’s CV, he actually started with Ned Lloyd.

So there is a bit of forwarding history in Oscar’s yellow blood. But Oscar is also simply a a fantastic manager and leader. And together with a strong team in DGFF, we felt that he’s the right one to now take DGFF to the next level.

Conference Moderator: Ako? Thank you. Oh, we got it.

Conference Operator: Our next question will come from Alexander Irving with Bernstein. Alexander, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Conference Moderator: Good morning, Melanie, and two for me, please. First of all, in freight forwarding, so you reported your lowest conversion margin since before the transition to CargoWise. How do you plan to get this from where it currently is up towards the 35% target? Is that yield? Is that missing volumes?

Is that further cost reduction? Second, maybe I can ask you on supply chain, please. So the top line, broadly flat at constant FX. Should this not be a segment with at least mid single digit top line growth? And when are we going to get back to those sorts of levels?

Yes.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Thank you for the two questions. So on the DGFF conversion, yes, clearly, that is not at the level where we want it to be. And Q2 was, overall, in terms of financial performance, not the strongest quarter. I think we also see that generally, the market is difficult, but obviously, we also have some internal homework to do. We made progress on the freight side, so that looks already better than in Q1, but we booked cost change in freight.

We also booked some cost of change in DGF. Those are also impacting the conversion rate. What do we have to do to move that into the right direction? Again, I think it’s a combination of the two factors you already pointed out. It is yield working on the GP side, where we also see, yes, some of the targeted growth initiatives gaining traction and, of course, continued focus on cost and efficiencies with the Fit for Growth component also playing a role in DGFF.

On the supply chain growth, yes, so that’s a very interesting question because supply chain is, in terms of speed of adjusting to a slowdown or an acceleration in the global economy, the slowest of our divisions. So you may recall a while ago, we had this slide of which division is the most macro dependent, which division reacts the fastest, that’s Global Forwarding. Which one is more on the slow side, that’s supply chain. So what we are now seeing in supply chain is also, yes, that things are not super dynamic in the global economy. You can see that in the throughput volume in our warehouses in some of our customers, and that is temporarily slowing down the top line growth in supply chain.

Over the medium to long term, we still see fantastic growth opportunities for that division. So I would say that we are now going through the supply chain cyclical adjustment to what is happening in the world around us.

Conference Moderator: Our

Conference Operator: next question comes from Patrick Crusoe with Goldman Sachs. Patrick, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Patrick Crusoe, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: To clarify, please

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yeah. Now we can hear you.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group: Can hear you. Start again, please.

Patrick Crusoe, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Just two clarifications, please, on Express. So one, just on the 200,000,000 worst case scenario in de minimis. Can you just share whether you think that’s if if it happens, whether that’s that would be down to a direct loss of volume and revenue for you or whether it takes into account largely the indirect potentially indirect effects on the softer air freight market, therefore, lower ACS revenues and and that kind of thing? And then secondly, the surcharges and you’re preparing for September, I mean, you roughly give us a sense of the level right to last year? Should we think about it as last year’s level being a best case?

And then if the peak season surcharge was down year on year, is your current expectation that the lower cost base offsets that in the fourth quarter basically?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Thank you. So let me start with the second question because I think you basically answered it yourself. So yes, we are given that this is offset for the cost development in the current environment, we probably assume that we will have a lower cost base and hence need a lower cost offset. So that would per se lead to a lower income from the demand surcharge, but you would see the compensation on the cost side.

And that is all factored into our guidance. And again, the reason why we are not announcing the details yet is that it is obviously a quite dynamic environment out there in terms of changes, not in terms of volume dynamic. And so we really want to get it right and take the time to really per trade lane find the right balance. On the de minimis worst case, so I mean, again, we run a holistic model for these different scenarios, and you can spend all day at the moment doing scenarios. But so in this worst, worst case scenario, the biggest impact actually comes from the assumed reduction in volume.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group: All right.

Conference Operator: Our next question comes from James Hollings with BNP Paribas. James, please unmute your line and ask your question.

James Hollings, Analyst, BNP Paribas: Hi. Thanks very much. A couple for me, please. Just wondering on the I mean, previously, you said de minimis from China to US is pretty small, for you guys. I don’t know the exact quote, but, that was roughly in line.

I was wondering if you could maybe help us with the maths on the B2C shipments down 20% year on year, what that might have been ex de minimis on that channel lane. And then, Melanie, thanks very much for the 200,000,000 guide on your very diligent view on the worst case scenario and de minimis. So wondering if you could take us behind the scenes and maybe quantify your worst case scenario on some of the tariff news we’ve been having recently Thanks very much.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Okay. I think the second question is a bit impossible to answer because there is so much news flow. Right? So, I mean, when you just look at the EU US trade deal, they are I think, as we all know, the details are still to be worked out. So I think on the positive side, you can say that there is some types of type of clarity coming up.

Talking to customers, that is also something they do appreciate very much. But obviously, it will lead to a significantly higher tariff than what was there before, and that should have some impact on Transatlantic volumes from Europe into The U. S. There could be some upside specifically on certain sectors from The U. S.

Into Europe. So I think we have, like with so many topics, now really have to work through the details and really see also how this is then implemented in detail because for us, being the ones who are doing the customs clearance, the devil is really in in the detail, and there are still lots of question marks around recent announcements. With regard to de minimis B2C, minus 20%. So the minus 20% in B2C volume in Express in the second quarter is impacted by the de minimis abolishment China, Hong Kong to The U. S.

So we clearly have seen in May, June an acceleration a significant acceleration in the decline in volumes on that trade lane. What I had alluded to beforehand was that we had already done quite a lot of action on the pricing side before that. So we had already seen declining volumes before. But obviously, there has been a significant impact, and that is also visible in the minus 20% B2C volume decline in Q2 overall.

Conference Operator: Our next question comes from Parish Jain with HSBC. Parish, please unmute your audio and ask your

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group0: taking my questions. I I have two. And if Melanie can talk about any qualitative color on how has been the start of third quarter, especially amidst tariff on tariff off scenario. And And secondly, if you if you can talk about some of the tools that express business have to deal with the extreme volatility, in freight volume. I mean, how easy or difficult it will be to take the take the cost out?

And will it come in the form of return of aircrafts? Or will it come from get rid of some of your older fleet? Any color on that will be helpful. Thank you.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Thank you for the two questions. Maybe on the first one, start of Q3, I really think, as I said before, the best description for me is it’s more of the same. So we don’t see a significant change in volume dynamic, and we see a continuation of this very pronounced volatility, which, of course, makes planning and network businesses like ours quite demanding. And against that background, I’m even more pleased with the ultimate result for Q2.

So also now in the third quarter, we stay extremely focused on constantly adjusting the network to the new volume development and driving forward our cost measures. With regard to what tools do we have and express to flex on the aviation side, I think what we are now seeing, for example, in the 7% capacity reduction in Q2 is the benefit of our aviation setup, where we have this very good combination of own aircraft, long term leases, medium term leases, short term leases, which allows us to really flex the capacity. And that, in combination with a lot of regional rejigging, so moving aircraft from the less busy routes to the busier routes. That is what we have successfully used in Q2, taking us to the 7% capacity adjustment, and that is also the opportunity we have going forward. And I think also very importantly, when volumes come back, that will allow us also to flex back up.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group0: Lovely. And maybe one quick question if I can add up. Now that the Divisankar acquisition has been completed, are there any early signs of movement among the key customers? Are are you seeing any pockets where where DHL’s freight forwarding business can grab some market share?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yeah. So we think that the opportunity opportunity is out there. But I think in the current environment, we do see in our customer portfolio, but also in the customer portfolio of competitors, a higher reluctance to change. So many tenders are being pushed out, which would be natural opportunities to switch because customers are delaying decisions. So we do think that there are opportunities coming from the merger, but we see an impact on the speed from the current environment.

Our

Conference Operator: next question comes from Cedar Ekblom with Morgan Stanley. Cedar, please unmute your audio and ask your question.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group1: Thanks. Hi, Melanie. I just had a follow-up question on these points around de minimis. So my understanding was that de minimis was all quite a small part of what the Express business was doing. And I understand the 200,000,000 that you’ve given is for the group overall in terms of risks in the second half.

But I would expect that a lot of that would be in that Express division, particularly because you talk about B2C volumes being down 20% and that being a lot linked to sort of China de minimis. So if I look at that 200,000,000 and I say that that’s only for four months of the year, it actually works out to be quite a large percentage of your express profitability. So I just like to understand your comments around de minimis not being so big for your group, but then those numbers actually implying that it’s quite large. And then just on margins in B2C and B2B, my understanding as well has been in the past that you haven’t necessarily seen a meaningful difference in profitability between those two product groups. But B2C volumes were down a lot more than B2B, and I know that you’ve put cost initiatives in place, etcetera, but the margin was actually really strong.

So can you just talk about sort of B2B and B2C? And if we really do need to think about different levels of profitability for those two product categories because that’s got implications for how we think about the potential margin recovery when B 2B volumes come back? Yes.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Thank you, Sida. So on the first question, I mean, there is obviously quite a lot of dynamic now on the whole de minimis. And as I said before, there was a new tax law, which was just passed by the Congress in the early days of July. Everybody assumed that it would now be in place until July 27. On July 30, there is an announcement that it will now be gone completely by August 29.

And of course, all these changes take some time to really settle in, and that is why you also see a bigger impact at the beginning than in a steady state. So I mean customers are, of course, working on solutions. And yes, that is why I don’t think you can extrapolate from a worst case 25% number for what that means going forward. In terms of and just to be correct, so the number which we have given is kind of like a worst case number for the group overall, but obviously, the biggest impact would be in Express. With regard to the margin question, B2B, B2C and what can you kind of like derive from the Q2 numbers, I think the important element in here is that the Transpacific trade lane in terms of profitability is very different, different for us and also different between us and competition.

For competition, that has obviously been one of the most important and most profitable trade lanes. For us, due to our distant third position in The US, the economics have been very different. And that is also why, for more than a year, we have now talked about pricing out B2C volume on the Transpacific because we didn’t see the best margin contribution from that business. And that is the reason why this B2C volume decline in Q2 looks as if we are losing B2C volume with a poor profitability. Overall, for the network, and that is something we have been obsessed about ever since the beginning of B2C, we do make sure that there is also a good profitability and margin contribution from B2C to the Express network.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group1: Okay. And can I just have one follow-up, please, just on this de minimis topic? So if it’s a worst case scenario of a €200,000,000 cost from the August this year, How do we think about what the cost, the incremental cost would be for ’26 in a worst case scenario? Do we just double that 200,000,000 or do we need to think about the seasonal cost being very much weighted into the last quarter of the year? And so actually, the incremental cost into 26,000,000 would be much less, maybe another $100,000,000 incremental or something like that?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: So I mean, there are so many moving parts at the moment. We have now tried to kind of like give you a feeling for the overall impact, on cost, but kind of like the overall EBIT impact in absolute worst case for 2025. Of course, if that scenario, which, again, we do not think is a likely scenario, should materialize, we would take further cost actions. We would take we wouldn’t make further adjustments so that extrapolation to ’26 on that basis is really not possible. We will then have to reassess how we set up the operations for ’26.

That was just to give you a bit of a sensitivity for a worst case in relation to our ’25 guidance.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group1: Okay. Thanks so much. Appreciate the help.

Conference Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from Christian Nedelcu with UBS. Christian, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Christian? I’m using

Conference Operator: Are you using classics?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: We can’t hear you. Christian,

Conference Operator: you may unmute your line by using star six. Our next question comes from Mark Zek with Kepler Cheuvreux. Mark, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group2: Good morning. Can you hear me?

Conference Moderator: Yes. We can. Morning.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group2: That’s great. Just a small clarification regarding de minimis and in relation to that, the demand surcharge. With that, worst case, 200,000,000 already assumed that in that case, you wouldn’t kind of you wouldn’t do a demand surcharge for the fourth quarter? Or is that kind of a worst case scenario possible with like the minus €200,000,000 from the de minimis impact and that then due to lower volume and as such, you wouldn’t do it. And the months for charging, that’s extra.

Thank you.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: So so we I mean, in in this world of scenario modeling, we do try to come to holistic scenarios. And that is why we are trying to then factor in all elements, so that is really the all inclusive worst case number we would see.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group2: Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Christian Adelcu with UBS. Christian, please use star six on your handset to unmute.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group3: Hi. Can you hear me?

Conference Moderator: Yes. We can. Morning.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group3: Apologies. Sorry. Yeah. Thank you very much for taking my question. Just just maybe a couple left.

Just a conceptual one. I think your your revenues in the quarter, excluding FX, were down 1% or or something like that year over year. You’re seeing more of the same going forward. The structural cost cutting from Fit for for growth is not really meaningful meaningfully offsetting that revenue drop. So it it does seem to me that it is your cyclical cost cutting that is is actually helping you have a resilient EBIT for the next couple of quarters at least.

So my my question is, when when volumes start to recover, is it fair to assume that the operating leverage benefit to the EBIT will be less pronounced than historically because you’ll have a lot of the cyclical costs that you have to reactivate. So that’s that’s maybe just a conceptual directional question about the the midterm. The the second one on Express, historically, the the q three EBIT is is weaker due to seasonality versus q two. And I think last year was the exception because you started doing in a more meaningful way capacity reductions, and and you’ve been addressing the cost. I was just wondering how if you can help us a bit, how should we think at at the the seasonal development this year in in Express in in q three?

I’ll probably be there, but thank you very much.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Thank you. So I think, first of all, on the operating leverage, I mean, what we are seeing at the moment on the cost side is a combination of the cyclical capacity adjustments to the volume and the increasing benefits of Fit for Growth. And yes, when volumes come back, we will also increase over time capacity again. What we have traditionally seen is that this is quite a sweet spot period where volumes then tend to come back quicker than we add capacity, giving us good operating leverage.

And that is also what I would assume for whenever volume comes back going forward. And on the seasonality, yes, Q3, as you rightly point out, is not the strongest quarter for Express, and that is also expected now for the 2025.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group3: Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: Our

Conference Operator: last question will come from Arthur Treslove with Citi. Arthur, please unmute your line and ask your question.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group3: Can you hear me okay?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. Good morning. We can.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group4: Good morning. Thank you very much. There was a couple for me. So just looking at the cash flow statement, you had what looks like a profit on disposal of noncurrent assets around 17,000,000. So just wanted to confirm if that was stripped out from normalized profits or not.

And then also within there, can see that the provision movement is negative from a cash flow perspective, and I just wondered if there was anything in the p and l for that. And then moving sort of to the fundamentals of the business, obviously, the volume trends in Express have been soggy for some time. What things are you sort of tracking to give yourselves an idea of when that volume rebound might finally take place?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. So on the cash flow statement, I have to see whether I got your questions correctly. So we had, I think, 95,000,000 in changes in provisions. And yeah. So, I mean, for example, some of the cost of change, which we booked as provisions was and coming up very quickly.

Yes. So we had some provisions, which we were using for the cost of change. And so I would say this is more of the usual stuff. I mean, last Q2 sorry, I’m still looking at Q1. Sorry, apologies.

Yes. So changes in provision was minus 50,000,000 in Q2, minus 95,000,000 in Q1. So I mean, we have a lot of usual stuff going through there, personnel provisions. And I don’t have anything I would point out here as extraordinary. I think overall, really, cash flow in Q2, apart from the M and A line, the $253,000,000 in net cash from acquisitions, divestments, is really very unspectacular, uneventful, nothing to be seen there.

And the second question

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group: Arthur, you remind us of the second question that you had.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group4: Yeah. So it was it was what are you sort of watching

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: About the volumes. Yeah. Yes. So when are you

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group4: looking forward to give you an idea of when things are going to come back?

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yes. So I mean, we have our daily volume trackers. And as I said before, it has been super volatile also from week to week, which is something which I haven’t seen in in that magnitude before. So it’s, yeah, very hard to see any types of patterns at this point in time. But of course, we are looking at, yes, daily volumes in Express, daily volumes in the parcel networks, turnover we see in the supply chain warehouses.

And as I said before, when we now look at what we could see in the beginning of the third quarter, it’s more of the same and not a fundamental change in patterns.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group4: Thank you very much.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yeah. Thank you. This

Conference Operator: concludes the Q and A session. I will now hand back to management for closing remarks.

Martin Ziegenboldg, Head of Investor Relations, DHL Group: Thanks, Abigail. Thanks to everyone out there for a very focused q and a session. So thanks for that. IR team is looking forward to discussing any other topics further with you over the next couple of weeks unless you prefer to go on your annual vacation. And let me turn it back to Melanie for your closing remarks.

Melanie Kreis, CFO, DHL Group: Yeah. Thank you very much also from my side for your interest, for the good questions and the discussion. Yes, if I wrap it up, obviously, we saw some impact of the volatilities in the world around us on our Q2 numbers. But for me, the important message is that we are focusing on the cost side, doing both the regular cyclical capacity adjustments and pushing forward with our Fit for Growth agenda. But at the same time, we keep investing into growth opportunities, and they are still out there.

You really have to hunt for them. But we are confident that with this combination of strict cost focus and looking for growth opportunities in the current environment, we will deliver growth also going forward. Thank you very much. And with that, also from my side, have a good summer. And to those of you who are still going on vacation, have a nice summer holiday.

Conference Operator: This concludes today’s call. Thank you everyone for joining. You may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.