DHL’s Indian subsidiary Blue Dart Express achieved “modest” double-digit improvements in revenues and profits in the January – March 2016 quarter on higher B2B and B2C volumes.
The company, now part of the DHL eCommerce unit, increased revenues by 10.3% to Rs 6,297.1 million (€83.7m) and improved net profits by 16.5% to Rs 404.9 million (€5.4m) for the fourth quarter.
For the full year ended March 31, 2016, Blue Dart increased revenues by 12.5% to Rs 25,530.6 million (€339.3m) while net profits soared by 49.7% to Rs 1,898.8 million (€25.2m).
Blue Dart’s domestic volumes grew by 14% to 159.5 million shipments in the full year but international volumes weakened slightly to 894,000 shipments. In weight terms, the company shipped over 595,623 tonnes of documents and parcels across India and internationally through DHL, which was 6.6% more than the previous year.
Anil Khanna, Managing Director, Blue Dart said: "It has been a tumultuous financial year for the express industry and as a business Blue Dart continues to face insurmountable challenges every day. However, Blue Dart has displayed a modest performance due to our clear focus on cost rationalisation and efficiency to increase EBIT margins even under difficult economic conditions. We have aggressively championed the B2C segment, especially e-tail, without any dilution to the B2B business.”
Indian financial newspaper LiveMint cited CFO Yogesh Dhingra as saying that the B2C business, which now accounts for 25% of revenues, grew 40% in 2015/16, including 14% in the final quarter, while B2B revenues were up 6% in the year as a whole, and by 9% in the final quarter. He expects stronger B2B growth this year as the Indian economy picks up speed.
Looking ahead, long-serving Khanna added: "We will steer our business further through automation and technology enhancement, by strengthening our network and improving our service quality while continuing with our insanely customer centric-culture with the support of our highly enthused and passionate team.”
