DHL Group has high hopes for the remainder of the decade, setting a goal to grow current revenue by 50 percent by 2030.
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In 2023, the logistics giant generated revenue of 81.8 billion euros ($91.1 billion), which would project the company’s growth at 122.6 billion euros ($136.6 billion) at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) greater than 5 percent.
“The majority of this sales growth is to be achieved organically,” said Tobias Meyer, CEO of DHL Group in a Wednesday presentation, who also said that the German firm “will certainly also make acquisitions.”
The press conference, held in Frankfurt, Germany, comes as the firm has dealt with ongoing weakened demand environment amid a wider freight recession that has weighed on global trade. In the U.S., top logistics companies like FedEx and UPS have endured similar financial struggles, with the former posting disappointing first-quarter results on Friday.
“We continue to see strong growth out of Asia —exports in some weeks being astonishingly strong,” Meyer said during the conference. “But we also continue to see certain weakness in Europe when it comes to B2B. It is unfortunate that it is not the first time we’ve portrayed a relatively inconsistent picture this year.”
Like the “big two” in the U.S., DHL’s express delivery business has had to endure lower volumes and profitability. On top of that, its freight forwarding business has dealt with setbacks from lower freight rates.
“When it comes to Express, we have to stay on the upper end of the demands of our customers regarding quality and willingness to pay. Opening the Express business model too much to lower-value shipments is not a strategy that we would follow, neither in B2B or in B2C,” Meyer said.
Meyer also acknowledged DHL’s satisfaction with the stickiness of the company’s recently implemented demand surcharges, which were added due to the continued capacity crunch of air cargo, largely out of China.
In the wake of the $16-billion DSV-DB Schenker acquisition , Meyer spun it as a positive for DHL due to there being “more concentration in certain markets” like less-than-truckload (LTL), as well as the potential exodus of customers that may instead prefer to partner with DHL Global Forwarding instead.
“The number of players becomes less,” Meyer said. “As much as I wish the colleagues all the best in the integration, we know that this is heavy lifting, particularly if you have two companies that have management systems that are on two other sides of the spectrum in many ways. We are open for business. If customers want to have a reliable partner that is not distracted, we would be happy to take that call and not reject that request for a chat. This is a much better outcome than if DB Schenker had been bought by private equity.”
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When breaking out performance by its official segments, DHL still sees e-commerce to be the highest-growth performer for the company, outpacing estimated market growth of 6 percent to 8 percent. The DHL Supply Chain division is expected to see sales increase beyond the market’s 4 percent to 6 percent growth projection, while DHL Express is anticipated to beat the 4 percent to 5 percent progress of the wider market.
DHL also sees heavy growth potential out of the “new energy” sector, with the company projecting to deliver a CAGR north of 15 percent. Revenue generated via segments like electric vehicles and batteries, wind, solar power and battery energy storage systems totaled roughly 400 million euros ($445 million) in 2023 and is projected to escalate 40 percent in 2024.
By 2030, DHL sees the sector reeling in more than 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in revenue.
Top-line growth isn’t the only desire for DHL, which also is seeking profitability by leaning in on digitalization, automation and robotics , data analytics and cutting costs.
For example, the company is deploying an AI-based product classification tool to assist with customs clearance. Leveraging the Stretch robotics from Boston Dynamics enables the company to autonomously unload over 500 boxes per hour at its facilities.
Labor productivity measures have improved across both air freight and ocean freight, according to Meyer, helping the company drive cost improvements.
Chief financial officer Melanie Kreis said DHL remains on track to meet its full-year financial guidance, although its ability to meet the targets depends on its fourth-quarter performance.
The company’s expected operating profit is between 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion) to 6.6 billion euros ($7.3 billion) for 2024, although that forecast relies on a stronger fourth quarter. Meyer said it would likely be on the lower end.
DHL held the presentation a day after the company announced it would make both the e-commerce and Germany-based Post & Parcel businesses standalone corporate entities. The company says it will take one to two years to implement the feature.
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