Deutsche Post DHL said the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has cost the company €60-€70 million in February.

In a statement, the logistics giant said it had seen a "very good start into 2020"  and was prepared for the usual effects around Chinese New Year in February.

But since then, it's express and freight forwarding businesses have been hit by government measures to contain Covid-19, which affected cross-border trade flows into and out of China.

"Since the Chinese government introduced measures to contain the Coronavirus, DPDHL Group has been consistently monitoring the volume development in its networks. In recent weeks, trade volumes have weakened, not only on the inbound and outbound China trade lanes but also in other countries of Asia; constraints on industrial production are increasingly expected also outside of China," it said.

The firm said its business development in Post & Parcel Germany as well as in DHL Supply Chain and DHL eCommerce Solutions has only been "marginally impacted" by the Corona crisis but in contrast, the Group currently sees more significant effects for the DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding divisions, where the business is particularly affected with regards to cross-border trade flows into and out of China.

"Group-wide the negative impacts of the Corona crisis on Group EBIT amount to around EUR 60-70 million for the month of February, compared to the initial internal planning," DP DHL said. 

Implications for the Group results for full-year 2020 "cannot be currently concretely assessed," the company said. But it added that should the macroeconomic situation normalize again, there could also be positive effects for logistics companies.

However, in case of longer duration or a worsening of the current situation over the coming months, the negative impacts for the Group are likely to outweigh the positives. 

"Deutsche Post DHL Group had a very good year 2019 and a successful start to 2020 in January. Thanks to our broad geographic set-up and our comprehensive portfolio we are more resilient than other companies," said Frank Appel, DP DHL CEO.

"However, a worldwide crisis like the Coronavirus does not leave us unaffected. It is currently hard to judge how strong the impact on our business will be."

DP DHL said considering the impact of the coronavirus, its 2020 guidance for a Group EBIT of more than €5.0 billion is hence as of now excluding any still to be quantified effect induced by Corona implications

The 2022 guidance for a Group EBIT of minimum €5.3 billion is not at all affected by this, it added.