bpost CEO: our revenues in North America remain under pressure
bpost group has announced its first quarter 2024 results revealing lower results in Belgium and E-Logistics North America but E-Logistics Eurasia on the up.
Group operating income at 993.0 mEUR, -5.3% compared to last year.
- Group adjusted EBIT at 62.1 mEUR with a margin of 6.2%, down by 15.5 mEUR, including 7.7 mEUR acquisition costs at Corporate level. Group reported EBIT at 59.2 mEUR.
- Belgium (including -4.8 mEUR lower compensation for the six-month extension of the press concessions).
- Total operating income at 565.8 mEUR.
- Underlying mail volume decline of -6.7%, mitigated by price/mix impact of +3.9%.
- Parcels volumes increased by +2.9% and price/mix impact of +1.3%.
- Opex nearly stable (+0.7%) mainly driven by salary indexations and stable FTE’s
- Adjusted EBIT at 59.4 mEUR (10.5% margin) and reported EBIT at 59.3 mEUR.
- E-Logistics Eurasia
- Total operating income at 169.4 mEUR (+2.1%) driven by continued expansion of Radial EU and Active Ants (+13.0%) and higher cross-border sales reflecting growth from existing and recent customer wins in Asia.
- Opex decrease (-1.3%) from lower SG&A and material costs offsetting higher transport costs in line with volume development and mix.
- Adjusted EBIT at 12.0 mEUR (7.1% margin) and reported EBIT at 11.4 mEUR (6.7% margin).
- E-Logistics North America
- Total operating income at 282.5 mEUR (-16.6% or -15.5% at constant exchange rate), reflecting lower volumes at Radial and Landmark US.
- Opex decrease (-17.0% or -15.9% at constant exchange rate) from lower variable costs including continued labor management and productivity gains.
- Adjusted EBIT at 8.8 mEUR (3.1% margin) and reported EBIT at 6.7 mEUR.
Chris Peeters, CEO of bpostgroup: “In Belgium, the results show resilience. We recently achieved a milestone by reaching an agreement with the Flemish editors on the newspaper distribution. We are doing our utmost to do the same with the French-speaking editors soon.
While our Eurasian activities continue their growth path, our revenues in North America remain under pressure due to adverse market conditions; we take the necessary measures to mitigate this through continued focus on productivity gains.
The envisioned acquisition of Staci is an important stepping stone in the transformation of our group. It brings our growth strategy to live and will enable us to refresh and expand our service offering, in order to appeal to a whole new B2B segment and to create new market opportunities.”
