German post office Deutsche Post floats on the stock market today, with some analysts doubting its potential for share price gains after the initial public offering was priced at a higher-than-expected €21. Investors expecting rapid increases were likely to be disappointed, partly because the group's outlook was marred by the tough task of integrating recent acquisitions of courier and logistics firms, analysts said.

Some analysts said Deutsche Post, launching Europe's biggest bourse flotation so far this year, should be seen as a long-term investment because it was well placed in the growing market for transport and logistics.

One positive factor is that Deutsche Post's market capitalisation the IPO price values it at €23.4 billion ($20.05 billion) - is likely to be large enough to give it a place in the blue-chip DAX index, which means index-tracking funds would be required to buy shares.