By Mauro Orru

Deutsche Post AG said Wednesday that net profit and revenue for the first quarter jumped amid strong momentum in global e-commerce and a recovery in world trade, making this the company's "best opening quarter ever."

The German freight-and-logistics group said quarterly net profit climbed to 1.19 billion euros ($1.43 billion) from EUR301 million in the first quarter of 2020.

Quarterly revenue increased to EUR18.86 billion from EUR15.46 billion, while earnings before interest and taxes rose to EUR1.91 billion from EUR592 million, slightly above a preliminary figure of around EUR1.9 billion from early April.

"We had the best opening quarter ever and were able to unleash our full strength as a group. All five of our divisions are on track for growth and are ideally positioned to benefit from the continuing boom in e-commerce and the resurgence in global trade," Chief Executive Frank Appel said.

Deutsche Post is raising its earnings guidance for 2021 as well as its mid-term targets.

For 2021, it now expects EBIT of more than EUR6.7 billion, instead of significantly above EUR5.6 billion. Free cash flow should rise to more than EUR3 billion instead of significantly above EUR2.3 billion. Gross capex should be around EUR3.8 billion rather than around EUR3.4 billion.

The company also expects EBIT of more than EUR7 billion for 2023 instead of more than EUR6 billion as previously expected. Cumulative free cash flow should be around EUR9 billion from 2021 to 2023 rather than between EUR7.5 billion and EUR8.5 billion.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-05-21 0142ET