Swiss Post announced today that it suffered a 13% drop in net profits in the first three months ofthis year due to a combination of declining mail volumes and higher operating costs.
In the first quarter of 2009, Swiss Post generated group profit of CHF 198 million despitethe difficult economic climate. However, this result is CHF 30 million down on the first quarter ofthe previous year. Operating profits dropped by the same figure to CHF 199 million.
The drop in profit is attributable to pay rises, writedowns on financial investmentsnecessitated by the situation on the financial market during the quarter under review, as well asthe decline in letter volumes. The number of addressed letters dropped by 3.1%, which issignificantly more than in the same period last year.
Compared with 2008, operating income rose by CHF 35 million to CHF 2,208 million. Thisincrease was primarily due to currency effects in international postal traffic. At CHF 70 million,investments were more or less on a par with the previous year.
In terms of the main business segments, the PostMail division had a slight drop in revenuesto CHF 739 million while its operating profit dropped by CHF 5 million to CHF 81 million. Incontrast, Swiss Post International increased revenues to CHF 278 million from the previous year’sCHF 248 million, and its operating profit went up to CHF 16 million from CHF 9 million.
The PostLogistics business also had a slight revenue fall to €367 million and its operatingprofits nearly halved to CHF 8 million.
In view of the unfavourable economic climate and the drop in earnings which the company willexperience as a result of the announced price cuts for letters as of 1 July, Swiss Post isexpecting its annual results to be significantly down on last year.
