Austrian Post today unveiled higher Q3 profits driven by a financial turnaround at its parcels& logistics division and despite lower mail results, and confirmed its financial outlook for
this year.The listed company increased Q3 operating profits by 18.3 per cent to €33.3 million despitean underlying 2.1 per cent fall in revenues to just under €550 million. Nine-month Ebit was 14.7per cent higher at €125.6 million with underlying revenues up 1.7 per cent at €1,723 million.
“For the company’s future business development it is important to further develop AustrianPost in line with its strategic cornerstones”, said CEO Georg Pölzl. In this regard, Austrian Postsucceeded in expanding its market leadership in the core business and taking important steps toenhance efficiency. Growth drivers were strengthened based on expansion measures in Poland,Bulgaria and Romania, whereas profitability was improved by the disposal of the Beneluxsubsidiaries. Greater emphasis was continuously placed on customer orientation by the offering ofself-service solutions, the company said.
The Parcel & Logistics Division made an important financial turnaround following the saleof the loss-making trans-o-flex businesses in Benelux earlier this year. The division’s Q3 revenuesdropped slightly to €201 million but it showed an operating profit of €5 million compared to theprevious year’s €15.9 million deficit.
Over the first three quarters of 2012, the division’s revenues climbed 2.3 per cent to €632million, which was an underlying increase of 5.1 per cent when adjusted to take account of theformer Benelux subsidiaries. The unit made an operating profit of €16.4 million compared to theprevious year’s €5.7 million loss, and generated a 2.6 per cent profit margin.
The company’s Premium Parcel business area (parcel delivery within 24 hours), which is mainlyused for B2B deliveries, increased underlying revenues by 2.7 per cent to €484 million in the firstnine months of 2012. The German subsidiary trans-o-flex, which is currently focusing onimplementing an efficiency enhancement programme in its distribution logistics, accounted for about60 per cent of this revenue and increased revenues by 1.1 per cent.
Parcel volumes of business customers in Austria increased at a high rate whereas intensifiedprice pressure was evident in South East and Eastern Europe against the backdrop of a good volumedevelopment. The Standard Parcel business area, used mainly for shipments to private customers inAustria, increased revenues by 7.7 per cent to €126.8 million.
The mail & branch network division, which generates the bulk of profits, had lower Q3revenues of just under €350 million and operating profits declined to €53.9 million, representing aprofit margin of 14.7 per cent compared to the previous year’s high 19.4 per cent. Over the ninemonths, Ebit dropped 4 per cent to €189 million on flat revenues of €1.1 billion.
Letter Mail revenues improved by 3.4 per cent over the nine months. The trend towardsdecreasing letter mail volumes related to electronic substitution continued but this wascounteracted by volume shifts from direct mail items to higher quality letter mail products as wellas various Internet orders, which are no longer sent as parcels but as letter mail items. The Ebitdecline was largely due to an impairment loss of €9.6m the stake in the at-equity consolidatedcompany MEILLERGHP.
Looking ahead, Austrian Post confirmed its financial expectations for this year. The companyexpects a further decline in addressed letter mail volumes as a result of electronic substitution,whereas increasing e-commerce should result in parcel volume growth.
“Against the backdrop of an ongoing uncertain economic environment, we expect a slightlypositive revenue development in the entire year 2012. We will continue to attach great importanceto the profitability of the services offered, so that we expect an EBITDA margin at the upper endof the targeted range of 10-12 per cent for the entire year 2012,” Pölzl said.
