France’s La Poste is aiming for good growth in its express parcels and financial servicesbusinesses this year to compensate for the structural decline in the mail sector, and is poised to
launch its new mobile phone business in May.The postal operator’s board yesterday approved the 2011 budget, which plans for stable revenuescompared to 2010 and an operating profit margin of 3%, which is higher than the figure in the2010-2015 medium-term plan, the company announced.
At a divisional level, La Poste is forecasting a 4.1% drop in mail in 2011, offset by a 5.3%rise in GeoPost revenues, a 3.2% revenue increase at Sofipost and a 1.5% rise at domestic B2Cparcels operator ColiPoste. The banking activities should grow 5% with higher savings and loanvolumes this year.
Investment will be raised to €1.4 billion in 2011, higher than the figure for the last twoyears. The bulk of the spending will be on operational and network improvements, including theongoing modernisation of mail operations in France, the ColiPoste network and construction of hubsand depots at the GeoPost subsidiaries. Other measures will include the second phase of post officemodernisation, new IT systems and potential property disposals.
La Poste added that the 2010 accounts will be approved at a forthcoming board meeting and theplanned €2.7 billion capital increase will be implemented. This will be jointly financed by theFrench state, with a €1.2 billion contribution, and the state-owned bank Caisse des Dépôts (CDC),which will contribute €1.5 billion in return for a 26% stake in La Poste.
In 2009, La Poste made an operating profit of €757 million on revenues of €20.5 billion, whichrepresented a 3.7% profit margin, and achieved a net profit of €531 million. Results improvedsignificantly in the first half of 2010 with a 3.1% revenue rise, a 50% increase in operatingprofits and a 23% rise in net profits. Under the ‘Ambition 2015’ strategy presented last April, thecompany is aiming for revenues of €22 billion and an operating profit margin of 8% by 2015.Investment of about €9 billion is foreseen for the 2010-2015 period.
La Poste also released details of its letter delivery performance in 2010. About 83.5% ofletters were delivered the day after posting despite all the disruptions during the year, includingseveral periods of severe weather conditions. The performance was thus close to the record figureof 84.7% achieved in 2009. This year the company aims to reach the level of 85% for next-day letterdeliveries.
Meanwhile, La Poste and French mobile phone company SFR will launch their joint mobile phoneservice on May 23, according to numerous French media reports. The two companies already announcedlast year that they planned to launch mobile phone services under the ‘La Poste’ brand through ajoint subsidiary. Under the likely name of ‘La Poste Mobile’, La Poste will become a ‘virtualmobile phone operator’ handling marketing and sales through post offices and other channels, whileSFR will provide the service technically.
