Romanian Post records profit for first time in three years
Romanian Post said today that it was in the black during the second half of 2011, for the first time in three years. The postal operator in Romania said that it has been recording a monthly profit since August, and that the second half of the year had brought in a EUR 3.7m profit.
For the year overall up to the end of December, Romanian Post recorded a gross profit of about EUR 1.4m, compared to a EUR 30m loss seen in 2010.
The company said its turnaround came as the result of systemic measures implemented by management to reduce costs and increase revenue. This included diversifying Romanian Post’s range of products and services and reorganising its post office network.
In 2012, Romanian Post said it would continue allocating its resources to develop new projects in fast-growing areas of the market, including in financial services, e-commerce, direct mail and express delivery.
The Post also aims to improve public service levels and the provision of universal services across the country.
Dumitru Daniel Neagoe, the director general at Romanian Post, said: “The results achieved, especially in the second half of 2011, show that we managed to mitigate the major economic downturn and achieve a profitable operation from August, which puts us on track and gives us a guarantee that we’re putting in the right corrective measures for Romanian Post.”
State-owned Romanian Post has a network of more than 5,100 post offices, with around 33,000 employees distributing more than 11m mailpieces each week to 7.5m addresses, for a population of about 21.6m.
The Post is currently looking to trim its work force by about 600, and to close 135 post offices, under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which is currently supporting economic development in Romania through a EUR 3.5bn programme.
The company is looking to potentially sell a minority stake at some point this year, expected to around a 20% stake, in order to raise funds for further modernisation.
Romania’s postal market is due to open fully to competition from 2013.
