bpost achieved better underlying profits last year thanks to new growth areas but has a cautiousoutlook for 2011 due to declining mail volumes.
The Belgian national postal operator increased turnover rose by 3 per cent in 2010 to€2,317.8 million but its net profit dropped back to €209.6 million from the 2009 figure of €290.9million. Underlying EBIT improved from €240.1 million to €319.2 million, while underlying netprofit rose to €207.5 million from the previous year’s €163.1 million.
The positive growth in the operating results was due to higher turnover, driven by theeconomic recovery in Belgium and abroad, and by bpost’s efforts to develop new revenue sources,such as parcels, end-to-end solutions and financial services.
Cost reductions, mainly driven by bpost’s continuous efforts to improve productivity, butalso by the absence of carry-over inflation from 2009, were also an important factor.
bpost said it also made advancements in terms of quality in 2010. Delivery punctuality roseto an average of 95.3 per cent, compared with 94.8 per cent in 2009. That was in excess of the 95per cent target laid down in the Management Contract with the Belgian state and bpost’s bestpunctuality score ever. There was also an improvement in the average waiting time at post offices.The target to serve 80 per cent of customers within five minutes was exceeded for the first time(81 per cent).
The annual employee satisfaction survey measured motivation at 81 per cent, compared withless than 70 per cent in 2007. This was a sign that employees understand and support the reasonsfor change in the organisation, the company said.
CEO Johnny Thijs commented: “We can be satisfied with the strong results we have achievedtogether in 2010. I would therefore like to congratulate and thank all employees. They will receivea share in the return on their efforts. Through the employee profit-sharing scheme laid down by law(5 per cent of the profit) and the one-off bonus laid down in the collective bargaining agreementfor 2011, employees with no variable salary will receive a bonus rising to over € 740 after tax forfull-time staff.”
Looking ahead to prospects for this year, however, Thijs urged great caution, given thatvolumes have come under mounting pressure over the past three months.
“Whereas the fall in mail volumes was limited to less than 1 per cent in 2010, we haverecorded sharper falls for addressed mail over the past three months (around 3 per cent). This haseverything to do with electronic substitution, which is increasing in Belgium as elsewhere. Theimplementation of the strategic plan 2011-2015, which factors in this faster fall in volume, istherefore critical. We will ensure that it occurs in a context of social dialogue, without anyredundancies and with maximum support for all employees involved.”
He also pointed out that the unexpectedly sharp rise in inflation would lead to earlier andfar-reaching index adjustments and so to additional costs for the company. Every 1 per cent rise inthe index adds another €12 million to bpost’s personnel costs on an annual basis.
The 2010 results have been approved by the Board of Directors and will be submitted to theGeneral Meeting of Shareholders on 20 April 2011 for approval.
