By Neetha Mahadevan 

FRANKFURT-- Deutsche Post AG has lowered its earnings outlook for 2015 after second-quarter net profit fell more than expected on costs related to strikes and the post and parcel delivery group's reorganization.

Shares in the German group, the biggest European competitor for United Parcel Service and FedEx Corp., fell more than 4% on the Frankfurt exchange as analysts started revising their earnings estimates lower.

Deutsche Post said net profit fell nearly 30% to EUR326 million ($356 million) in the three months to end-June from EUR461 million a year earlier despite a 7.3% increase in revenue to EUR14.7 billion. Analysts had expected net profit of around EUR411 million.

The group maintained its longer-term earnings forecasts but lowered its 2015 target after strikes shaved EUR100 million off earnings at its postal-services unit. German labor union Verdi had staged a series of strikes from April, one of which lasted four weeks, over managements plans to expand its parcel division by using workers earning ower pay, before a deal was reached last month.

Deutsche Post is currently restructuring its business to try to improve profitability amid rapid growth in demand for express delivery as Europe's online consumer markets boom, a trend which has caught the attention of the German group's international rivals.

FedEx Corp. agreed to buy parcel firm TNT Express NV though the deal is yet to be approved by the European Union's antitrust watchdog. UPS, whose earlier planned takeover of TNT was blocked on antitrust grounds, is also investing in a string of expansion projects on the continent.

Deutsche Post's DHL Express--the dominant European player by market share--is doubling the size of its Leipzig, Germany, hub, at a cost of EUR150 million.

"The current year represents a year of transition," said Chief Executive Frank Appel.

The strikes were also a double blow to Deutsche Post's postal-service business, already under pressure from the global decline in physical as opposed to electronic mail. Chief Financial Officer Larry Rosen said that as well as lost revenue, the company lost out on customers who shifted to competitors or other means of communication during strikes as well as incurring extra costs to satisfy unhappy clients.

Deutsche Post's international freight business also encountered difficult trading in the quarter.

Investec analyst Alex Paterson said he was particularly concerned by the poor performance from global forwarding and freight, as well as weakness in the group's post and express divisions, under pressure from China's less buoyant economy.

"No solution has been found to the problems at global forwarding and freight," Mr. Paterson said, adding that any solution will take two to three years to fully implement, leading to "further downside risk to forecasts."

Deutsche Post's Mr. Rosen said the company has initiated a comprehensive turnaround program for the freight and global-forwarding division after "the trend in earnings was again very disappointing," amid low growth in airfreight volumes and persistent pressure on margins in ocean freight.

The group said earnings before interest and taxes fell 18% to EUR537 million from EUR656 million. For the full-year, Deutsche Post now expects EBIT of EUR2.95 billion to EUR3.1 billion, versus EUR3.05 billion to EUR3.2 billion previously forecast.

Write to Neetha Mahadevan at neetha.mahadevan@wsj.com

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