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March 14, 2006 12:45 PM, EST

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eutsche Post AG, parent of the DHL express-delivery service in North America, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit rose 25% but warned its operating profit likely would be flat this year, news services reported.

The German company earned 891 million euros (about $1.06 billion) in the quarter, compared with 708 million euros (about $850 million) a year earlier, the Associated Press reported.

The earnings mirrored the preliminary figures Deutsche Post released last month. Sales rose 5% to 12.1 billion euros (about $14.4 billion).

The company’s U.S. operations are likely to post losses this year and in 2007 following a 400 million euro (about $479 million) loss last year, Bloomberg reported.

Earnings before interest and taxes will reach at least 3.7 billion euros (about $4.4 billion) this year, after rising 25% to 3.76 billion euros (about $4.5 billion) last year on one-time gains, Bloomberg said.

Deutsche Post has spent about $20 billion on acquisitions abroad over six years, including DHL and Exel Plc, to prepare for the loss of its German mail monopoly in 2008, Bloomberg reported.

DHL Americas is ranked No. 4 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.