BERLIN, Oct 21 (Reuters) – German postal services company Deutsche Post (DPWGn.DE) has not yet benefited from the recent economic upswing, its chief executive said on Wednesday, after rivals made upbeat noises about market improvement.
“So far, we can’t see this in the results for July and August,” Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel said.
U.S. rival FedEx Corp (FDX.N) in September reported a 53 percent drop in its first-quarter profit as the economic downturn continued to weigh on shipping volumes, but said most of its markets were continuing to show signs of improvement.
TNT NV (TNT.AS), Europe’s second-largest global express delivery company, also said it saw improvement in the air freight market. [ID:nSP15572]
Deutsche Post shares were down 2 percent at 12.495 euros by 1057 GMT, underperforming a 0.9 percent drop in Germany’s blue-chip DAX index .GDAXI.
Appel added that Deutsche Post would take a hit in the third quarter from the closure of German mail-order company Quelle, one of Deutsche Post’s major customers.
“Of course this will have an impact on us,” Appel said.
A Post spokesman said the Quelle closure would affect about 200 to 300 jobs at Deutsche Post. (Reporting by Rene Wagner and Anneli Palmen, writing by Eva Kuehnen, editing by Will Waterman)