Deutsche Post DHL provides preview of the first quarter 2009

Deutsche Post DHL, the world's largest logistics provider, saw volume declines increase across all products and divisions in the first quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. However, the rate of decline has stabilized suggesting that overall flows are bottoming out. Overall profitability toward the end of the quarter increasingly benefited from the restructuring of the DHL U.S. Express business. In the EXPRESS Corporate Division all regions outside the U.S. recorded profitable business. All other Corporate Divisions showed positive underlying and reported earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). However, only the Corporate Division SUPPLY CHAIN recorded an improvement in underlying EBIT compared with the year-earlier period. Despite one additional working day, the MAIL division could not mitigate the negative revenue impact mainly driven by the economic downturn and an increase in wage expenses. Underlying EBIT in MAIL hence was approximately 150 million euros below the level of the first quarter 2008.

Despite significant U.S. restructuring costs, Deutsche Post DHL in total recorded a slightly positive reported EBIT in the first quarter. On an underlying basis, Group EBIT declined less than 50 percent. Continued progress in the Group's efforts to cut indirect costs by at least 1 billion euros by the end of 2010 and cost measures in response to the volume declines in the divisions mitigated the heavy economic headwind.

With close to 1 billion euros, Deutsche Post DHL's first-quarter net profit was considerably ahead of last year's number as the financial result was positively impacted by the market valuation of the Group's put options on Postbank shares. In addition to that, discontinued operations benefited from deconsolidation effects.

DP DHL will release the full set of numbers for the first quarter of 2009 on May 6th, 2009.