Posten, the Swedish postal operator, increased profits and revenues strongly over the first ninemonths thanks to its growing logistics business and cost-cutting in the mail business.
Over the first nine months of the year, net sales rose 10% to SEK 21.9 billion, operatingprofits were up 22% to SEK 1.95 billion and net profits grew 14% to SEK 1.5 billion.
In the quarter ending September 30, the postal group improved its net sales by 1% to SEK 6.8billion, and increased operating profits by 5% to SEK 560 million. Net profits rose 1% to SEK 453million.
Posten Logistics, incorporating parcels, express, freight forwarding and logisticsactivities, increased net sales by 11% to SEK 6 billion over the first nine months and turned aprevious year operating loss of SEK 63 million into a profit of SEK 214 million. In Q3, PostenLogistics increased revenues by 9% and upped operating profits by 38% to SEK 18 million.
The parcels business generated mid single-digit revenue growth, mostly in B2B deliveries butalso in B2C where the MyPack scheme was launched in Norway. All other areas, including express,also generated growth, Posten said.
Erik Olsson, President and CEO, said: “The continued growth of import and export flows,together with the expanding distance trade are powerful forces driving Posten Logistics to developinto a full-service Nordic supplier. In the aggressive competition among international players, itis especially crucial to ensure efficient and competitive capacity with constant profitability.
Therefore, it is very good news that Posten Logistics has now established its distributionnetwork in Norway and has further secured its position on the Nordic logistics market through theacquisition of the Finnish logistics company Suomen Logistiikkatalo Oy.”
The mail division, Posten Messaging, had stable nine-month revenues and increased itsoperating profits by 21% due to cost-cutting.
