Singapore Post has announced half-year revenues up 5.9% to S$211 million (EUR 106 million) fromS$199m (EUR 100 million) in the same period of the last fiscal year. Underlying net profit rose
3.6% to S$61.7 million (EUR 31 million) between 1 April and 30 September this year.Group CEO Lau Boon Tuan said the rise in second quarter revenue (up 3.5%) was due to stronggrowth in retail sales (up 14%). Mail revenue, the bulk of SingPost’s business, grew 1.7% in Q2 toS$82.2m (EUR 41.2 million). Logistics income was up 2.7% to almost S$16m (EUR 8 million) due tohigher contributions from Speedpost, its new express courier service launched with DHL Express inJanuary this year.
“We will continue to drive growth in our core businesses of mail and logistics whileleveraging our retail network for growth,” he said. “In addition to pursuing growth in direct mailand mailroom management, we will continue to boost our international mail business by working withpublishers to promote Singapore as a distribution hub.”
SingPost’s monopoly in basic mail services (letters and postcards) expires at the end ofMarch 2007 and the group is looking to diversify by offering higher value products and services inretail and distribution.
Its hybrid mail business, DataPost, has set up printing facilities in the Philippines andMalaysia and SingPost said it was looking to set up similar facilities in two other regionalmarkets within the next 18 months.
SingPost has also moved into online shopping through its portal vPOST, where customers can sofar buy goods from Japan, the US, Korea and New Zealand.
