(Berlin, March 31, 2022) The 2021 Integrated Report of Deutsche Bahn Group (DB Group) was published today in German and shows a comprehensive picture of the development of DB Group in the 2021 financial year, which continued to be noticeably influenced by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The introductory chapter "Our contribution to climate protection" presents the activities and goals of DB Group for climate protection in the context of the climate protection goals of the Federal Government. The Integrated Report continues to meet all relevant financial and sustainability reporting standards. For the first time, the Integrated Report also takes into account the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). DB Group thus takes account of the particular importance of the issue of climate protection.
In addition to the hardcopy version, a separate online version with online extensions is available online (currently only available in German, available in English in May 2022).
The development of DB Group in 2021 shows a noticeable recovery. Double-digit percentage growth in revenues, exceeding the level achieved in 2019, the year before the pandemic: Revenues rose 18.4% year on year, to € 47.3 billion. The main revenue driver was again DB Schenker. Revenues also increased in the Integrated Rail System (mainly passenger transport and rail infrastructure in Germany as well as rail freight transport) with DB Cargo also posting further growth.
Adjusted operating profit (EBIT adjusted) still remained negative at € -1.6 billion. Compared to 2020 the loss was considerably lower (2020: € -2,9 billion). As agreed with the Federal Government, DB Group will cover half of the pandemic-related losses in its core business itself by 2024. In 2021, DB Group saved more than a billion euros on general, administrative and personnel expenses. „Investing and saving intelligently - both are important so that we will write black figures again operationally“, said Dr. Levin Holle, DB's CFO. DB Schenker saw the biggest uptrend. It generated the highest EBIT in its history, € 1.2 billion, which stabilized the DB Group's financial position. DB Schenker once again performed extremely well in volatile times and ensured stable supply chains worldwide. DB Arriva significantly reduced its operating loss.
Net loss for the year, including extraordinary items, interest and taxes, recovered even more significantly, by nearly € 5 billion to € -900 million (2020: € -5.7 billion). The train-path price support related to Covid-19 from the Federal Government implemented in 2021 and the absence of the effect of the impairment loss on investments recognized in the previous year also had a positive impact here.
We welcomed more passengers on our long distance trains in 2021 than in 2020. About 82 million passengers took DB's long distance trains in 2021 (2020: 81 million). The 2020 figure includes two pre-pandemic months at the beginning of 2020. On a comparable basis, roughly 30% more people took DB's long distance trains between March and December 2021 than in the same period in 2020.
DB Arriva, the DB Group's local transport operator in Europe, transported nearly 11% more passengers in 2021.
Demand for rail freight transport rose again. DB Cargo increased its freight carried by 6.3% and its volume sold by 7.9%.
Train kilometers on track infrastructure rose by about 4% to 1.1 billion train-path km.
DB Group increased its capital expenditures once again, despite the pandemic – for more transport by rail, better offers for customers and climate-friendly growth. Gross capital expenditures rose by 6.8% to about € 15.4 billion last year. Net capital expenditures were up 7.7% to about € 6.3 billion. About 93 % of gross capital expenditures are invested in the core business rail in Germany (Integrated Rail System). At € 29.1 billion, net financial debt as of December 31, 2021 was slightly lower than at the end of 2020, despite the high level of capital expenditures.
In 2022, DB Group expects to generate an operating profit and to increase its revenues to over € 48 billion. There is of course a great deal of uncertainty associated with any type of forecast in light of the unforeseeable impact of the war in Ukraine and other developments.
The documents for today's annual results press conference on the 2021 financial year are available online.