Emirates Post may sell 40percent stake
The UAE will likely sell 40 per cent of its stake in Emirates Post Corporation by year-end, a company official said.
The organisation has already initiated discussions with the authorities regarding the partial sale of the government’s stake, said Director-General Abdullah Al Daboos. Emirates Post, which is capitalised at Dh100 million, has announced a record net profit of Dh123 million for 2004, an increase of 20 per cent over the previous year.
The company aims to improve its profit by another 12 per cent this year, said Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Communications and Chairman of Emirates Post.
“There is currently a line-up of postal services Egypt, Oman, Syria, etc for which Emirates Post is planning to help establish state-of-the-art IT systems,” said Al Daboos.
Emirates Post, considered one of the best managed postal services in the region, has provided Bahrain’s postal company with an integrated IT system.
Emirates Post’s performance is the result of dynamic measures such as diversification, innovation and a strong focus on leveraging its postal network to deliver multiple postal and non-postal services, said Al Mansouri.
“Emirates Post focused on creating profit without compromising on quality,” he said.
Emirates Post has drawn up a number of initiatives for 2005 to consolidate its position on the regional and international map, he said.
Its network now consists of 77 post offices, and its diversification areas include retail, mail fulfilment, mail aggregation through Dubai Air Mail Transit Hub and direct marketing.
The company has signed new postal agreements with Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Yemen and Egypt to upgrade postal services to these countries.
It has forged partnerships with Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority for bill payments, Sharjah Medical District for medical services licences, Dubai Municipality for parking fines, Etisalat for payment of bills, Sharjah Traffic Department and Dubai Department of Economic Development for trade licence renewals.
It has also forged ties with private sector companies such as Air Arabia and Cellucom.
Emirates Post continues to make progress in its emiratisation drive.
Last year emiratisation reached 55 per cent, and the level at higher management has reached 100 per cent.
EPC will expand its non-postal services and, according to its top officials, the company will open more Union National Bank branches at post offices.
