Deutsche Post Earnings Prompt Higher Dividend

FRANKFURT--Deutsche Post AG's (DPW.XE) net profit surged in the fourth quarter, boosted by its electronic commerce business, prompting the company to increase the dividend for the year.

Net profit rose more than 25% to 841 million euros ($888.8 million) during the three months ended Dec. 31, from EUR670 million in the year-earlier period. Revenue edged up 0.2% to EUR15.4 billion. For all of 2016, net profit came to EUR2.64 billion, up 6.4% from 2015's EUR1.54 billion.

Earnings before interest and taxes came to EUR3.49 billion, hitting the lower end of the company's EUR3.4 billion-EUR3.7 billion forecast. For 2017, the company expects EBIT of around EUR3.75 billion and said the figure should rise over 8% annually by 2020.

Deutsche Post proposed a dividend of EUR1.05 per share for 2016, a rise of over 20% from the EUR0.85 per share payment for 2015.

--Write to Monica Houston-Waesch at nikki.houston@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 08, 2017 01:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

Deutsche Post (PK) (USOTC:DPSGY)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2024 to Jun 2024