Ceska posta 2003 profit up at Kc916m
Ceska posta, the Czech Post Office, raised gross profits by 76 per cent to Kc916 million in 2003 from Kc520 million a year earlier, spokesman Ladislav Vancura told CTK today.
The growth was due to higher prices, a bigger volume of commercial services and lower costs, he added. Revenues rose by almost two per cent to Kc15.9 billion.
Ceska posta delivered 591 million letters and postcards last year, 22 million fewer than in 2002, but sales from this activity rose by 9 per cent to Kc4.3 billion.
The number of ordinary letters fell owing to the increasing popularity of electronic communication. On the other hand, the volume of corporate correspondence is growing.
Ceska posta delivered 104 million recommended letters, up 2 per cent from 2002. The number of letters in international mail dipped by 20 per cent to 24.5 million.
Revenues from bills rose to Kc1.99 billion from Kc1.85 billion.
Ceska posta runs a network of 3,400 post offices. Last year, it employed 38,923 people, down by 342 year-on-year.
Czech IT Minister Vladimir Mlynar will propose a transformation of the state-run company into a joint-stock company by end-June.
The government is not planning to privatise Ceska posta in the next two years.
