Swiss Post today revealed stable results for the first nine months of 2015 with profits from financial services compensating for lower profits in other areas.
Swiss Post generated a group profit of CHF 503 million from January to September 2015, up slightly on last year’s CHF 494 million, while operating profits improved slightly to CHF 640 million from last year’s CHF 632 million. The slight increase resulted from higher operating profit on the financial services market despite the ongoing low interest rate situation while the other businesses made lower contributions. Revenues dropped to just over CHF 6 billion from CH 6.1 billion last year.
In the communication market, Swiss Post recorded an operating profit of CHF 166 million in the first three quarters of 2015, down from last year’s CHF 188 million. The decline in income at PostMail and Post Offices & Sales, caused by slightly lower volumes, could not be offset, despite a reduction in expenses in all the units within this market and the higher contribution to the results from Swiss Post Solutions. The number of addressed letters fell by just 1% while the number of unaddressed items actually rose by 1.2%. Revenues dropped to CHF 3.4 billion from CHF 3.5 billion.
In the highly competitive logistics market, Swiss Post recorded an operating profit of CHF 95 million, which is around CHF 2 million less than in the prior-year period. Declines in revenue from small consignment transport and warehousing, combined with lower income in the fuel business, were mostly offset by higher parcel volumes and optimized operating expenses. Parcel volumes were up 2.5% while revenues were slightly lower at CHF 1.13 billion.
PostFinance, which operates in the financial services market, achieved an operating profit of CHF of 351 million, which represents an increase of CHF 42 million year-on-year. Lower book losses on financial assets and higher transaction volumes on the currency markets following the lifting of the minimum euro exchange rate made a substantial contribution to the improvement in results.
However, net interest income before impairment was down year-on-year due to the ongoing very low, and in some cases negative, interest rates on the markets. As a result of targeted measures in connection with the introduction of negative interest rates by the Swiss National Bank, customer deposits have declined by 4.4 billion francs since the beginning of the year. During the same period, 13,000 new customers placed their trust in PostFinance.
In the passenger transport market, Swiss Post recorded an operating profit of CHF 29 million, down from CHF 36 million last year. While operating income remained in line with the previous year, operating expenses rose year-on-year due to the higher headcount.
Looking ahead, Swiss Post said it expects to meet the financial goals of its owner again in 2015, with group profit likely to be slightly below the previous year’s level.
