Post Danmark recorded a profit after tax of DKK 546 mil-lion

The Post Danmark Group has just published its financial results for 2004, which show a profit after tax of DKK 546 million. This is DKK 249 million higher than in 2003 and the best result ever in the history of the company.
Profit before tax was DKK 836 million in 2004 against DKK 466 million in 2003.
The annual revenue level of DKK 11 billion has now been surpassed. In 2004, revenue rose by DKK 622 million (6 per cent) to DKK 11,227 million.

– This is a highly satisfactory result, the groundwork for which was laid in the first quarter of the year, which was much better than expected. At the same time, we also managed to retain the satisfactory level of 2003 during the rest of the year with the result that we now can look back at 2004 as a year which in many fields points forward for Post Danmark, says Helge Israelsen, CEO, Post Danmark.

He emphasises that business areas such as distribution of parcels, unaddressed items (fliers and advertising materials) as well as newspapers, magazines and periodicals showed progress in 2004 and that this progress is expected to continue in 2005.

Following a decline in letter volumes since 2000, the number of letters stabilised in 2004. This was due, among other things, to a number of events of a non-recurring nature such as the replacement of all Dankort payment cards and extra distributions of tax cards etc. At the same time, growth was recorded in direct mail. Total revenue from letters rose by DKK 245 million on 2003.

– We expect that the past five years’ trend in the letter-post market will continue in 2005. This means that we probably again will see declining letter volumes. We therefore focus on continuous efficiency improvements of our processes, says Helge Israelsen, CEO.

Post Danmark expects total revenue for the full year of 2005 to increase slightly, just as the level of expenses is expected to rise slightly as a result of the general movements of prices and wages.

Profit before tax is expected to be slightly lower than in 2004.

Post Danmark’s accounting policies have been changed with effect from 1 January 2005 in order to comply with the international financial reporting standards (IFRS). Calculated according to the changed accounting policies, Post Danmark’s profit before tax for 2004 was DKK 1,146 million, up DKK 310 million. The increase is primarily due to a reversal of goodwill amortisation.

For more information: Helge Israelsen, CEO, tel. +45 33 75 40 00.