Credit Rating

Long-term

Short-term

Outlook

BBB+
F2
stable

Baa1
P-2
positive

Research

8 May 2012 PDF (752 KB)

• Well-integrated business profile
  
• Dominant market position in the domestic mail and parcel market
  
• Strong global footprint in the EXPRESS, GLOBAL FORWARDING, FREIGHT and SUPPLY CHAIN businesses 
• Improvements in the financial profile after the completion of the sale of Postbank shares
• Recovery of the express business’s profits and market share offsetting the challenging macroeconomic environment
  

• Scale and global presence as the world’s largest logistics company
• Large and relatively robust mail business in Germany

• Success in restoring profitability at the logistics activities while reducing negative regulatory and e-substitution effects on the mail division

• Conservative financial policy and sound liquidity profile of the Group

• Success in strengthening credit metrics following the completion of the disposal of Deutsche Postbank (€4.3 billion of debt eliminated from the balance sheet at end-February 2012)
  

• Exposure to regulatory and litigation risks (i.e. EU antitrust and state aid investigations)
  
• Structural volume decline in the MAIL division due to secular changes in the industry (i.e. competition from electronic communication and digitalisation) 
• High exposure to global market volatility through the DHL divisions
  

• Exposure to global macroeconomic trends in the express and logistics sectors
• Declining mail volumes due to market liberalization and the general substitution of traditional mail items with electronic communication