Development in the first half of 2021
- Strict Covid-19 measures at the beginning of the year had a noticeably adverse effect on demand.
- Since April 2021, there has been a significant recovery in volume sold and passenger numbers.
- Weaker punctuality performance.
- Financial development strongly influenced by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
DB Long-Distance | H1 | Change | H1 2019 | |||
2021 | 2020 | absolute | % | |||
| Punctuality (rail) (%) | 79.5 | 83.5 | – | – | 77.2 | |
| Customer satisfaction (SI) | 80.3 | 80.4 | – | – | 77.4 | |
| Passengers (rail) (million) | 27.2 | 41.0 | –13.8 | –33.7 | 71.8 | |
| Passengers (long-distance bus) (million) | – | 0.1 | –0.1 | –100 | 0.3 | |
| Volume sold (rail) (million pkm) | 7,664 | 11,634 | –3,970 | –34.1 | 20,894 | |
| Volume sold (long-distance bus) (million pkm) | – | 25.0 | –25.0 | –100 | 83.0 | |
| Volume produced (million train-path km) | 70.6 | 68.1 | +2.5 | +3.7 | 73.0 | |
| Load factor (%) | 20.4 | 31.6 | – | – | 53.3 | |
| Total revenues (€ million) | 1,054 | 1,485 | –431 | –29.0 | 2,392 | |
| External revenues (€ million) | 996 | 1,417 | –421 | –29.7 | 2,310 | |
EBITDA adjusted (€ million) | –975 | –552 | –423 | +76.6 | 367 | |
EBIT adjusted (€ million) | –1,144 | –720 | –424 | +58.9 | 224 | |
| Gross capital expenditures (€ million) | 675 | 573 | +102 | +17.8 | 169 | |
| Employees as of Jun 30 (FTE) | 19,026 | 18,320 | +706 | +3.9 | 16,938 | |
The punctuality of DB Long-Distance has again developed more weakly. In addition to a slump at the beginning of the year due to weather conditions, higher capacity bottlenecks on the network as a result of increased construction activity and higher capacity utilization also had a negative impact. In contrast, positive effects resulted from a lower number of excessive stopping times, mainly due to low passenger numbers and reduced effects from slow-running sections.
Customer satisfaction remains at a good level. The main drivers are maintaining a service during the second lockdown, the low capacity utilization (especially with sufficient distance from other passengers) and high punctuality.
The performance development in rail transport also declined sharply again overall due to the Covid-19 pandemic:
- The extension of measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic led to a significant decline in passenger numbers and volume sold, especially at the beginning of the year, as the corresponding months of the previous year were not yet influenced by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the increasing easing of the measures, there has been a significant recovery in demand since April 2021.
- The volume produced increased slightly. Positive effects from lower Covid-19-related supply reductions exceeded negative effects from changes in supply, construction activities on the network and weather-related restrictions.
- Load factor reduced significantly as a result of the decline in volume sold and passenger numbers due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
DB Long-Distance bus activities were discontinued at the end of the previous year.
As a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, operating profit figures have deteriorated significantly:
- Driven by the decline in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there were significant revenue losses.
- The significant increase in other operating income (+64.4%/€ +56 million) had a slightly compensating effect, in particular due to higher income from insurance benefits (for damages from previous years), international transport services and vehicle sales.
Overall, expenses increased only slightly. Additional burdens, especially from higher personnel expenses, were partially offset, in particular, by savings related to the Covid-19 pandemic:
- The higher personnel expenses (+7.8%/€ +43 million) were primarily due to wage increases and the increased number of employees.
- Cost of materials increased slightly (+0.8%/€ +11 million). Higher expenses for energy due to price and volume factors and the use of infrastructure, as well as more intensive maintenance activities, resulted in an increase in expenses. In contrast, expenses were reduced as a result of lower expenses related to the Covid-19 pandemic for the use of goods in onboard catering, commissions, vehicle rent and BahnCard services. In addition, the discontinuation of long-distance bus activities had a dampening effect.
- Also, depreciation only changed slightly (+0.6%/€ +1 million). Higher depreciation due to capital expenditures on ICE 4 and Intercity 2 trains was largely offset by the opposite effects due to ICE 3, ICE T and Intercity 1 trains coming to the end of their useful lives.
- The decline in other operating expenses (–3.7%/€ –10 million) resulted mainly from savings in marketing, travel expenses and vehicle rent due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was counteracted by higher expenses for IT measures to improve product quality.
Capital expenditure activities increased at a very high level and resulted primarily from continued vehicle projects (procurement of ICE 4 trains and modernization of the ICE 1 fleet in particular).
The number of employees increased as of June 30, 2021, due to the continued implementation of the Strong Rail strategy.