Deutsche Post World Net has published its quarterly results. The German mail, express and logistics giant was able to increase operating profit (EBIT) by 8.7% to €998 million, which management described as 'a good start' to the new year. Revenue rose 4.4% to €15.5 billion.

In the first quarter, the Mail division raised revenue by 2.9% to €3.93 billion. As it has done in previous quarters, the division offset anticipated revenue losses in the domestic mail market through gains in its international activities.

During the first three months of the year, revenue at the Express division rose 0.9% to €3.33 billion, held back by currency effects totaling €150 million. In local currencies, the division grew organically by 6.5%. This growth was generated primarily by the high-yielding international express business. Europe as well as the Asia-Pacific and EEMEA regions recorded strong growth rates. In the Americas region, revenue in local currencies gained 3.2%, with high growth rates in the domestic business in Latin America. In euro terms, revenue in the region declined 5.6% to €1.05 billion. EBIT for the entire Express division was €62 million, compared with a loss of €58 million in the same period last year.

The Logistics division boosted revenue by 6.1% to €6.22 billion in the first quarter, although sales were impacted by negative exchange-rate comparisons. Purely organically, revenue climbed 9.6%. The DHL Global Forwarding business unit recorded revenue of €2.19 billion, 1.5% less than in the same period last year. The drop was due to currency effects and lower freight rates in some regions.

DHL Exel Supply Chain saw revenue climb significantly, jumping 12% to €3.19 billion. The 10-year contract with the British health-care service NHS contributed considerably to the increase. The DHL Freight business unit increased first-quarter revenue 0.7% to €917 million. EBIT in the Logistics division totaled €214 million compared with €157 million. The 36% increase was largely attributable to the sale of the waste disposal company Vfw AG, which led to a non-recurring income of €59 million.

"The first quarter confirmed the positive trends of the preceding quarters," said Prof. Edgar Ernst, the Group's chief financial officer. "We attained growth in our international mail activities and substantial earnings improvements in the express business." The group reiterated its forecast for an EBIT excluding non-recurring effects totaling at least €3.6 billion in 2007.