Deutsche Post

The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German postal service and international courier service company, the world's largest. With its headquarters in Bonn, the corporation has 510,000 employees. The postal division delivers 59 million letters each day in Germany, making it Europe's largest such company. The Express division (DHL) provides services in 220 countries.The Deutsche Post is the successor to the German mail authority Deutsche Bundespost, which was privatized in 1995 and became a fully independent company in 2000. DHL Express is a wholly owned subsidiary. Since its privatization, Deutsche Post has significantly expanded its business area through acquisitions. In late 2014, the Group acquired StreetScooter GmbH, a small manufacturer of electric vehicles. Two years later, the Group acquired UK Mail, a business-focused postal service in the UK for US$315.5 (£243 million). The former company became a division of the Deutsche Post European parcel network.The Deutsche Post DHL Group 2016 earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) was €3.491 billion (up 44.8 percent over 2015), with a net profit of €2.64 billion on revenue of €57,334 billion. Return on equity, before taxes, was 27.7 percent. The Group's long term credit rating, in November 2016, was BBB+ with a Stable outlook per Fitch's. Deutsche Post AG is listed on the Börse Frankfurt (Frankfurt Stock Exchange) as DPW and is in the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. In 2016, 20.5% of the Group's shares are held by the state-owned KfW bank, 79.5% are freely floating; 65.6% of which are held by institutional and 10.8% by private investors. Since its privatization, Deutsche Post has significantly expanded its business area through acquisitions.