Poste Italiane improved its operating profit by 9% in 2009 and recorded its eighth consecutiveyear in profit boosted by its financial and insurance services and innovative products responding
to customer needs.The Italian postal operator increased its total revenues by 12.6% to €20.1 billion last yearwith spectacular growth in revenues for insurance services (+29%) and solid growth for financialservices (+8%) but a 5% drop in mail revenues due to a volume decline.
The operating profit, however, rose 8.8% to €1.6 billion from €1.5 billion in 2008 and netprofit also increased by 2.4% to €904 million.
Poste Italiane underlined the general trend towards declining mail volumes in all developedeconomies reflecting increasing use of the internet. The postal operator said it is responding tothe ongoing reduction in mail with the launch of innovative services. By exploiting digitaltechnology and guaranteeing maximum security, the new services are able to keep pace withdevelopments in consumer behaviour and meet the changing needs of customers, who are increasinglyinterested in the use of digital products, Poste Italiane said in a statement.
The postal operator added that the net inflow into postal savings products was of greatsignificance, with an additional €5.5 billion invested in postal savings certificates and depositedin postal savings books. This underlines savers’ confidence in Poste Italiane, even during a yearmarked by the global financial crisis, the company said in a statement.
“2009 again saw an improvement in net profit,” declared managing director Massimo Sarmi. “Thisis an excellent result, achieved in a year of economic and financial crisis, which also acceleratedthe decline in mail volumes.”
“This eighth successive year in profit allows Poste Italiane to face up to full liberalisationof the postal market with confidence. We are well-placed to respond to the new competition, thanksto the competitive advantage represented by our experience in successfully launching innovative,high-technology services,” Sarmi added.
In the insurance segment, the group’s broad and diversified commercial product range has drivenup the results as Poste Vita, the corresponding insurance division, reported record revenue in2009, placing it among Italy’s leading insurance companies. Premiums written amounted to €7.1billion, compared with €5.5 billion in 2008 which is an increase of 28.4%. The segment is expectedto grow further with the launch of Poste Assicura marking the group’s entry into the non-lifeinsurance market.
Financial Services also made a positive contribution to revenue growth, thanks to productssuccessfully meeting customers’ needs. The number of current accounts increased 2.7% to 5.5 millionwhile Postepay cards are up 22.8% to 5.6 million. In terms of telecommunications, Poste Mobilereinforced its presence in the mobile market in 2009, with the number of SIM cards sold rising from671,000 to 1.3 million at the end of last year. This was partly due to Poste Mobile’s entry intothe business segment.
Along with other postal operators, Poste Italiane was also assigned a site on “.POST”, thedomain created in 2009 by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) for all global postal operators toguarantee the security of digital communications.
“We also made the news in 2009 with a prestigious “Postal Technology International Award” asbest Service Provider of the year, thanks to the central role played by Poste Italiane in supplyinga full range of services and our ability to meet the needs of our customers,” Sarmi stated.
In terms of innovation, the “Electronic Postman” service, which has introduced letter carriersequipped with a palmtop and a printer delivering postal and financial services to customers’ homes,was further extended with over 12,000 devices now in use.
With regard to eco-friendly initiatives, additional vehicles were added to the “free duck” fleetof hybrid quad bikes used to deliver mail in old town centres. There are now 200 vehicles availableto letter carriers.
“It is our ability to innovate, acknowledged by a panel of top managers from around the world,that has enabled Poste Italiane to improve our ranking in Fortune’s list of the “World’s MostAdmired Companies”, moving up from eighth to fifth position in the global logistics-postal sector,and to consolidate our number three position in the Italian rankings,” Sarmi concluded.
