An Post set to sell off firms for 30m
LOSS-making An Post has decided to sell off two of its subsidiary companies which retail mobile phone top-ups, in a move which could raise up to 30m for the State-owned group.
In recent days, Goodbody Stockbrokers has circulated potential buyers with an information memorandum on the sale of the two operations, the Irish Independent has learned.
The two companies – PostTS UK, which is based in Crewe, Britain, and An Post Transaction Services SA, based in Madrid – are understood to be profitable and they employ a total of 100.
The British company has made a gross turnover of stgGBP11m, according to its most recently-filed set of accounts.
The UK operation has a network of terminals in 9,500 stores across Britain which allow consumers electronically top up the credit on their mobile phones.
The Spanish operation, which has been longer established, has built up a network of over 11,200 terminals.
Its business partners include O2 and Vodafone in Britain. In Spain, it works with Telefonica Movistar, Amena and Vodafone.
The sale of the networks would be of interest to Irish company Alphyra and US group First Data, which are involved in similar businesses.
It is understood that An Post decided to sell the firms after it conducted a full review of all its non-core divisions as part of a recovery plan after the company announced operating losses of 42.8m for 2003.
A year earlier, the company had suffered an operating loss of 17.3m.
A key part of An Post’s financial problems stems from its rising costs.
Last year, turnover grew by 25.5m – but at the same time, costs increased by 51m.
The company has also decided to exit from its parcel and courier SDS operation, after it suffered from a surge in competition to which it was unable to react due to its high fixed costs.
The decision to close SDS resulted in the loss of 270 jobs, although the company has not introduced forced redundancies.
The SDS division has lost 30m in the last five years. An Post has partly blamed its difficulties on a delay in implementing a much-needed restructuring.
In recent days, it has also emerged that unions and management are discussing proposals to subcontract out the delivery of mail in rural areas.
Under the proposals, it has been reported that self-employed postmen would deliver mail but that they would not be on the An Post payroll.
