bpost delivers “solid financials”
Compared to Q2 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, bpost delivers a strong second quarter driven by mail revenues and sustained e-commerce in Europe.
Second quarter 2021 highlights
- Group operating income at EUR 1,037.9m, -1.4% compared with the same period last year and driven by mail revenues and sustained e-commerce in Europe. As anticipated, accelerating contribution of new customers at Radial NA did not yet compensate the non-recurring COVID-19 lockdown growth of the second quarter 2020.
- Group reported EBIT at EUR 103.4m. Group adjusted EBIT at EUR 106.6m (margin of 10.3%) increased by EUR +31.6m compared to prior year.
- Mail & Retail
- Total operating income at EUR 508.1m (+8.5%) driven by volume rebound supported by one-off COVID-19 communication, positive mail price impact, Value added services & Retail profiting from soft comps of last year.
- Reported EBIT at EUR 71.3m. Adjusted EBIT at EUR 71.7m (14.1% margin) up by EUR +35.7m doubling year-over-year.
- Underlying mail volume growth of +1.4%.
- Parcels & Logistics Europe & Asia
- Total operating income at EUR 283.4m (-3.9%) against high comparable base in the second quarter 2020.
- Reported EBIT at EUR 34.0m. Adjusted EBIT at EUR 34.7m (12.2% margin), up EUR 2.3m (+7.1%) with margin improvement supported by benefits of operating leverage in the integrated network.
- Despite volume growth of +2.9% from sustained online sales, operating income Parcels B2X decreased by
-4.0% due to the negative price/mix of -6.9%, of which price impact of -2.8% from COVID-19 surcharges to customers in April and May 2020.
- Parcels & Logistics North America
- Total operating income at EUR 309.8m (-12.5%, or -4.6% at constant exchange rate), reflecting Radial’s non-recurring extra volumes of last year’s pandemic lockdown where closures of customer’s physical shops and temporarily soaring sales of sanitizers and related products increased volumes, slightly offset by new customers’ contribution that started to accelerate in June.
- Reported EBIT at EUR 8.7m. Adjusted EBIT at EUR 10.8m (3.5% margin), down by EUR -6.8m driven by lower operating income at Radial and wage pressure in the U.S.
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Outlook update for 2021 is revised upwards. In light of the strong second quarter results, and based on current assumptions of mail volume trend and normalization for COVID-19 e-commerce activities for the rest of the year, bpost now expects the group adjusted EBIT to be above EUR 340m.
Dirk Tirez, CEO of bpost group: “Thanks to its 36,000 employees, bpost can deliver solid financials while developing the ambition to be one of the most sustainable postal and logistics operators in Europe from an economic, ecologic and social perspective. Compared to 2Q20 COVID lockdown, bpost delivers a strong quarter driven by mail revenues and sustained e-commerce in Europe.
North America saw strong growth in new business partially offsetting the impact of non-recurring COVID lockdown same stores sales volume from 2Q20. The good results put bpost group in a position to upgrade its full year guidance which is to deliver “above EUR 340m” EBIT.The bpost management team embraces the continuity in governance to further execute on the management priorities, with the preparation of the end of year peak as absolute priority.”
