Rising rail demand pulls Deutsche Bahn ahead
Financial Times: August 19 2008 03:00
By Gerrit Wiesmann in Frankfurt
Record petrol prices appear to have spurred hundreds of thousands of Germans to ditch their cars for the train, a trend that has buoyed state railway Deutsche Bahn ahead of this autumn's flotation of its train operations.
Hartmut Mehdorn, chief executive of the Bahn and newly carved-out subsidiary Deutsche Bahn Mobility and Logistics, said the group carried 941m passengers in the first half of the year, 30m more than in the same period last year.
The record figure - which equates to an average of 165,000 more train journeys a day - came as car drivers and airline operators struggled with oil-related annual price rises of 80 per cent. In comparison, Deutsche Bahn's electricity costs rose only half.
The company said the distance travelled by Germans in their cars in the first six months of the year had fallen 1.5 per cent, while the distance travelled with DBML and its rivals had risen 1.4 per cent.
With business at Europe's largest rail-freight operation also showing few signs of fallout from the global economic slowdown, the Bahn said DBML's full-year results should improve on last year, when it made €1bn in net profit on €31bn in sales.
Mr Mehdorn refused to say when a planned 24.9 per cent of DBML would be sold - advisers have considered late October or early November. But he said a recent tour of potential investors had shown that appetite was still good.
Internal growth and acquisitions - such as the purchase of UK freight operator EWS - boosted first-half sales 6.8 per cent to €16.2bn ($23.8bn). Net profit grew 5.4 per cent to €915m.
In spite of first encounters with economic ripples in the wake of financial market woes, Mr Mehdorn said "freight traffic continues to perform very well". Were it not for bottlenecks at European ports, DBML "could transport even more" cargo, he said.
But Mr Mehdorn cautioned that DBML would not escape all adverse effects. He said freight growth had slowed, last year's electricity bill of €2bn was likely to rise and engine drivers had achieved big wage rises after a strike.
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Deutsche Bahn Gears Up for Share Listing With Higher Earnings
Deutsche Welle: 18.08.2008
Deutsche Bahn announced across-the-board increases in its net value
Germany's state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn prepared the ground for its stock market debut later this year by unveiling solid increases in earnings and revenue, and record passenger traffic for 2008.
Announcing the latest results, DB chief Hartmut Mehdorn confirmed on Monday, Aug. 18, that 24.9 percent of its newly formed subsidiary DB Mobility Logistics, which is now home to DB's passenger and logistics operations, would be listed on the stock market in the coming months.
Analysts have said the planned partial privatization of Europe's biggest rail group should generate about 6 billion euros ($8.8 billion), with DB having launched a drive for international investors to buy into the share listing.
DB said the group's earnings before interest, tax and special items rose 6.8 percent to 1.4 billion euros during the first half of the year with net profit increasing by 5.4 percent to 915 million euros.
"Never before have so many people in Germany traveled on DB trains in the first half (of the year), and never before were more goods transported by rail," said Mehdorn.
The rail company said revenue jumped by 8.2 percent to 16.6 billion euros in the six months to the end of June compared to the same period last year.
Passenger traffic increased by 3 percent to a record 941 million, which corresponds on average to about 5.2 million people travelling on DB's trains each day.
DB's higher figures may in some part also be attributed to its increasing of commuter and main-line fares by 2.9 percent last September.
The volume of DB's goods traffic rose 26.3 percent to 197 million tons.
Under the group's sell-off plan, the state would have a 75.1-percent stake of DB's passenger and freight operations. However, the partial privatization means that Berlin would retain 100 percent control of the rail company's railway stations as well as its 34,000 kilometers (21,748 miles) of track network and its energy supplier operations.
The Bahn also announced Monday it would be increasing fares in December. Increases in fuel and personnel costs forced the company to raise ticket prices, Mehdorn said. The rail company said it would specify the exact amount of the increase in September. Fares were last increased by an average of 2.9 percent in December 2007.
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Deutsche Bahn to raise ticket prices by up to 3.2 percent in December
Thomson Financial News: 08.18.08
FRANKFURT - German rail operator Deutsche Bahn plans to raise ticket prices on passenger trains by up to 3.2 percent in December to bolster profitability amidst rising energy costs, Financial Times Deutschland reported, not citing its sources.
The paper said in a pre-release of an article to be published Tuesday the price hike will lead to some 120 million euros additional revenues in 2009.
Chief executive Hartmut Mehdorn at a press conference earlier Monday said Deutsche Bahn plans to raise prices in December, declining to provide details.
The company last raised prices by 2.9 percent on average in December 2007.
Financial Times Deutschland also said Deutsche Bahn is set to acquire a leading logistics company in Romania for close to 100 million euros, citing financial sources.
A 24.9 percent stake in Deutsche Bahn's DB Mobility Logistics unit is slated for privatisation in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) expected for October or November that could yield up to 5 billion euros.
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Deutsche Bahn H1 EBIT rises 6.8 percent to 1.4 billion euros confirms FY targets
Thomson Financial News: 08.18.08
FRANKFURT- Deutsche Bahn AG. said first-half earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) before one-offs rose 6.8 percent year-on-year to 1.4 billion euros and said it is confirming its full-year targets.
Chief executive Hartmut Mehdorn at a press conference said the German railways and logistics company still targets full-year sales to grow by 5 percent, but said the company starts to feel slower economic growth. It sees full-year EBIT matching last year's level of 2.895 billion euros.
Sales in the first-half of the year ended June 30 rose 8.2 percent to 16.6 billion euros.
A 24.9 percent stake in Deutsche Bahn's DB Mobility Logistics unit is slated for privatisation in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) expected for October or November that could yield up to 5 billion euros.
First-half sales in the unit that comprises Deutsche Bahn's passenger trains, rail cargo and logistics operations were 16.2 billion euros, while EBIT before one-offs was 1.1 billion euros.
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Deutsche Bahn says DB Mobility's 1st day of trading Oct 27
Thomson Financial News: 08.19.08
FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Deutsche Bahn AG. has set October 27 as the first day of trading in its DB Mobility Logistics unit, Capital reported in a prerelease of an article to be published Thursday, citing banking sources.
A spokesman for the German state-owned rail operator and logistics company declined to comment the report, reiterating the company plans to list the unit in autumn.
Financial Times Deutschland earlier reported Deutsche Bahn has moved the first day of trading to late October from previously November 5.
The report said shares in the unit that comprises the company's passenger handling, rail cargo and logistics operations will be offered from October 13 through October 24.
Deutsche Bahn plans to sell a 24.9 percent stake in the unit through the Initial Public Offering (IPO), which it expects to yield around 5 billion euros.