Swiss Post Group had an SF81 million growth in profits in the first half (H1) of 2017, at SF394 million from SF313 million in the same period of 2016.
The postal operator’s operating profit (EBIT) was SF547 million, up by SF164 million from 2016. Swiss Post released a statement that said, “a large part of this – around 155m francs – was due to the improved result in the financial services market”.
Swiss Post continued, “Efficiency measures, the restructuring of the post office network and the ongoing adjustment of our services to adapt to changing customer behaviour also contributed to the good result.
“The fact that we are making good progress and have achieved a solid interim result will enable us to continually develop,” said Alex Glanzmann, Head of Finance at Swiss Post. “However, it can also clearly be seen that maintaining a stable operating result is still a major challenge for us.”
The “challenge” – Swiss Post pointed out – comes from the continuing pressure of “digital transformation”.
Focusing on the various business divisions, Swiss Post commented: “In the communication market, the letter business recorded an operating profit of 186m francs, which is 3m francs more than in the prior-year period. However, the number of addressed letters was again down on the previous year (-2.8%). Although Post Offices & Sales recorded a loss of -88m francs, the decline was reduced by 11m francs. This is due to the restructuring of the post office network, which offset losses in over-the-counter transactions for letters, parcels and inpayments. The volume of inpayments and outpayments over the counter alone declined by 5.8% in the first half of the year.”
Swiss Post’s logistics business posted an operating profit of SF58m, up SF6 million on 2016.
Parcel volumes were up 4.9%. The postal operator stated, “With a market share of around 80%, Swiss Post remains the number one in the Swiss parcel market. However, pressure on margins remains high, partly due to competitors from outside the sector.”
PostBus reported an operating profit of SF20 million while PostFinance recorded an operating profit of SF392m.
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