OOO Itella, the Russian subsidiary of Finnish postal operator Posti Group, has acquired the Russian courier company MaxiPost with the aim of increasing its share of the Russian express delivery market. The company suffered a decline in sales and revenue last year due to the country’s economic situation and weaker international trade.
The acquisition is in line with the “Vision-2020” of Itella Russia which is “to be the customer's first choice for logistics and e-commerce services”. “Our goal is to be a desired partner chosen by companies looking for transportation and logistics services in Russia,” Itella Russia explained its vision.
Founded in 2000, MaxiPost offers courier services to small and large companies making deliveries in more than 290 cities in Russia. Its main markets are Moscow, St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas.
MaxiPost specialises in the delivery of parcels for e-commerce operators. The company delivered more than one million shipments in 2015. MaxiPost's customers include many fashion and cosmetics companies, like GROUPON, Mascotte, Zenden and Dekatlon, to name a few. The company has 11 branches including in Russia and St. Petersburg and around 250 employees.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction price. “The transaction will not affect the current customer agreements or the companies’ personnel,” Itella Russia said.
“This business transaction complements well the service range of Itella Russia. With MaxiPost, we strengthen our e-commerce and parcel services expertise in accordance with our strategy,” Nikolai Voinov, President of Itella Russia, said. “E-commerce continues to grow in Russia despite the difficult economic situation. Russia is among the ten largest e-commerce consumer markets in the world.”
“We continue to expand our presence in the B2C segment and are now ready to offer our customers a comprehensive range of logistics services including the ‘last mile’,” Voinov added.
In 2015, the product sales of Itella Russia fell by 7.7% calculated in ruble. When calculated in euro, however, the fall is much more dramatic amounting to 30.9%.
Last year, the company’s revenues fell by 26.5% in in the segment of air and maritime transport, by 8% in the area of contract logistics, and increased by 0.3% in the segment of road transport.
Itella invested over RUB 200 million (€2.6 million) in the Russian market last year, of which RUB 100 million were spent on building a warehousing platform in the Rostov region, RUB 10 million on new technologies and equipment, RUB 4 million on staff training and RUB 56 million on opening cross-docking terminals. In addition, 62 contracts were signed in 2015.
In 2016, Itella plans to invest RUB 350 million (€4.5 million) in its Russian operations.
The domestic e-commerce market in Russia grew by 16% to RUB 650 billion (€8.4 billion) in 2015, up from RUB 560 billion (€7.25 billion) in 2014. Approximately 160 million parcels were delivered to e-commerce customers in 2015, which is 10% more than during the previous year.
