"Customers are starting to move operations from the UK to mainland Europe. That's more imminent than... a trade war," Deutsche Post DHL CEO Frank Appel told analysts after the group published second quarter results.

He said Brexit could even bring benefits for Deutsche Post, because there could be a business opportunity in helping customers manage the increased complexity and costs as a result.

"We are not dependent on one region or trade lane, we are really global," he added.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan)