DHL Group

Deutsche Post AG, trading as DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies. The postal division, Deutsche Post, delivers 61 million letters each day in Germany, making it Europe's largest such company. The parcel division DHL is a wholly owned subsidiary claimed to be present in over 220 countries and territories. DHL Group is the successor to the German mail authority Deutsche Bundespost, which was privatized in 1995 and became a fully independent company in 2000. Since its privatization, Deutsche Post has significantly expanded its business area through acquisitions. In late 2014, the group acquired StreetScooter GmbH, a small manufacturer of electric vehicles. Two years later, the group acquired UK Mail, a business-focused postal service in the UK for US$315.5 million (£243 million). The former company became a division of the Deutsche Post European parcel network. The 2016 earnings of Deutsche Post DHL Group before interest and taxes (EBIT) was €3.491 billion (up 44.8 percent over 2015), with a net profit of €2.64 billion on revenue of €57.334 billion. Return on equity, before taxes, was 27.7 percent. The group's long term credit rating, in November 2016, was BBB+ with a Stable outlook per Fitch's. DHL Group is listed on the Börse Frankfurt (Frankfurt Stock Exchange) as DHL and is in the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. In 2016, 20.5% of the group's shares were held by the state-owned KfW bank; 79.5% were freely floating: 65.6% held by institutional and 10.8% by private investors. DHL Group has become a large, world-wide company in about two decades. The following are significant dates in the development into its current form. 2 January 1995: Deutsche Bundespost Postdienst becomes Deutsche Post AG; this is the company's privatization. The government of Germany still owns a large share of the company; the state development bank KfW owns 50 percent. 1998: Deutsche Post begins acquiring shares in DHL International.