Parcels delivery specialist Hermes increased revenues by 5% in the year ending February 28, 2017, according to parent company Otto Group whose overall revenues grew at a similar rate, driven by e-commerce sales.
The Hermes Group continued to benefit from growth in the online retail sector, raising (external) revenue by around 5% to €1,574 million, Otto Group said as part of its preliminary results for 2016/17. On an exchange-rate adjusted basis, growth was even higher at over 11%, “thanks to the very positive development of the British operation Hermes UK”. No further details were released.
The Hermes revenue figure excludes “internal” sales generated from Otto Group businesses. In 2015/16, the Hermes Group increased its overall turnover by 11% to €2,460 million, with 74% of revenues generated by external clients and 26% by Otto Group businesses.
The Hermes Group currently comprises transportation and delivery subsidiaries in Germany, the UK, Austria, Italy and Russia, as well as several specialists for sourcing, fulfilment and cross-border e-commerce.
However, Otto Group disclosed that the French delivery business Mondial Relay and logistics firm Girard Agediss will be transferred to and managed by the Hermes Group in future. This is linked to the sale of the retail activities of the French 3SI Group.
Overall, the Hamburg-based Otto Group, comprising a diverse range of retail and services businesses, including retailers Otto and Bonprix, increased group revenues by 3.4% to €12.5 billion in the year ending February 2017.
E-commerce was once again the growth driver. Online sales grew nearly 10% to almost €7 billion, including growth of about 10% to around €5 billion in Germany. “This means the Otto Group was able to consolidate its position as the No. 2 in Germany and one of the leading players in international e-commerce retail,” the company commented.
“We are very satisfied with the growth we achieved in the past year,” said Alexander Birken who took over as Chairman of the Otto Group Executive Board on 1 January 2017 from Hans-Otto Schrader.
“Our Group companies were once again able to raise their customer relevance in their respective markets. In parallel to this, we improved our profitability and will be able to close the financial year with a clearly positive result in all profitability aspects. Thanks to our strong earnings we were able to make major investments in technology, new business models and our locations, as well as to restructure the company portfolio with a view to the future.”
Otto Group will present full financial results and also the new group strategy on 17 May 2017.
