DHL Group is raising its full-year earnings forecast amid a strong second quarter reeling in double-digit revenue growth and a substantial improvement in operating profit.
In preliminary results unveiled Tuesday, the logistics giant said total revenue increased by more than 10 percent from the year prior, without giving a concrete figure.
Group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached around 1.85 billion euros ($2.1 billion), up roughly 29 percent from 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in the year prior.
DHL will add further details upon releasing its full second quarter report on Aug. 5.
“Business development in the second quarter showed continued growth in demand and, consequently, positive earnings momentum for the Group, particularly in the DHL Express division,” DHL Group said in a statement.
The company noted that the return to revenue growth was helped by favorable comparisons with the year-ago period, “which had been impacted by customs and other trade policy conditions.”
Revenue decreased 3.9 percent in last year’s second quarter, with cross-border international shipments at DHL Express declining 10 percent.
At the time, the U.S. had imposed sweeping tariffs on most of its trade partners, with duties on China reaching triple digits for a brief stretch last spring. The majority of these “reciprocal” tariffs that President Donald Trump slapped on other countries were ruled illegal in February via a Supreme Court ruling, forcing the executive branch to conjure up alternative options. The U.S. also scrapped the duty-free de minimis provision for small parcels out of China last May, further holding volumes down.
The full-year guidance is “assuming no further worsening of the geopolitical situation,” the company said. Across the company, pre-tax income forecasts for 2026 were increased to exceed 6.5 billion euros ($7.4 billion) compared to the previous guidance of 6.2 billion euros ($7.1 billion).
DHL is following in the footsteps of another logistics titan, Maersk, in raising its profit outlook for the year. Like DHL, the ocean carrier cited growing demand as the primary reason for the rosier guidance.
Chief competitor FedEx released its own guidance for the 2026 calendar year, which implied 20 percent earnings per share growth from June through December.
For its major divisions. DHL’s EBIT expectations were increased to more than 5.9 billion euros ($6.7 billion), above the previously guided 5.6 billion euros ($6.4 billion). These units consist of DHL Express, as well as its global freight forwarding division, its DHL Supply Chain contract logistics segment and its high-volume e-commerce parcel delivery business.
The outlook remains unchanged for its parcel and postal delivery unit in Germany, with pre-tax earnings still expected to remain above 900 million euros ($1 billion). The company also anticipates its “group functions” to incur a 400-million-euro ($457.2 million) loss. That segment mainly provides services internally within DHL.
In addition, the company credited its “Fit for Growth” measures for helping reduce the company’s cost base, leading to earnings “rising more strongly than market expectation.”
The Fit for Growth program was announced last March, and is aimed at cutting companywide expenses by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) through 2027.
The preliminary results said DHL Express generated an EBIT of 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in its second quarter, accelerating 64 percent from 730 million euros ($833.4 million) last year and reflecting a “very favorable operating leverage effect of the return to [volume] growth.”
Growth in the segment was supported by about 150 million euros ($171.3 million) of gains driven by capacity constraints in the air freight market.
Pre-tax profit at DHL Global Forwarding totaled 240 million euros ($274 million) compared with 196 million euros ($223.8 million) last year due to a positive effect of low-to-mid double-digit million from successfully managing market disruptions.
DHL Supply Chain recorded earnings of approximately 305 million euros ($348.2 million) in the quarter, down 12 percent compared with the prior-year result of 348 million euros ($397.3 million).
Finally, DHL eCommerce drove an estimated EBIT of 50 million euros ($57.1 million) compared with 56 million euros ($63.9 million) last year.
The e-commerce parcel delivery branch hopes to further expand in the U.S. and attract larger clients, recently reupping its partnership with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Under the exclusive multi-year deal, which is expected to produce $10 billion in revenue, all of DHL eCommerce’s last-mile domestic parcels in the U.S. will be delivered through USPS.
