German logistics and mail group DHL has reported a slide in quarterly revenue and earnings due to a slump in freight volumes and prices, and warned of economic uncertainty ahead.
Shares in DHL dropped 4% this morning after the group said revenue fell by just over 16% to €20.1 billion in the three months from April to June, missing an analysts' consensus forecast of €21.7 billion.
The Bonn-based group recently changed its name from Deutsche Post DHL and saw Tobias Meyer take over as CEO in May.
It said it saw the sharpest revenue decline at its freight and freight forwarding business, which accounts for around a quarter of DHL's revenue. It slid around 41% from a year earlier, the group said.
Falling global consumer demand, soaring inflation and high inventories have dragged freight rates down from their pandemic highs, denting the earnings of freight forwarders such as DHL, Kuehne+Nagel and Denmark's DSV
"We all knew that a normalisation would come after the unusual year 2022. The normalisation is here now," DHL's finance chief Melanie Kreis told journalists during a conference call.
At the same time, e-commerce volumes in Europe returned to growth, and earnings at DHL's Supply Chain business came in better than expected.
DHL's group operating profit (EBIT) dropped by 27% to €1.69 billion in the second quarter, a tad above analysts' consensus for €1.65 billion published on DHL's website.
The group raised the lower end of its 2023 profit guidance range. It now sees its annual EBIT between €6.2 billion and €7 billion euros, having previously forecast a figure between €6 billion and €7 billion.
"In the medium term, we are convinced that we will return to EBIT growth and will generate more than €8 billion in a normalised economic environment," Kreis said, affirming DHL's medium-term earnings outlook.
