Post Fiji pays USD 457,000 in dividends

State owned company, Post Fiji has given government USD 457,000 in dividends for the 2005 financial year. This compares to USD 634,978 that Post Fiji gave in dividends for the 2004 financial year, a drop of 28 per cent. Post Fiji attributed the decrease to the cessation of the remailing business; a reduction of the commission from Telecom Fiji by 73.33 per cent and a slight increase in operating costs. But the postal company says it is diversifying its services by offering agency services, etc such BillPay, and more recently, ticketing for Pacific Blue. It is unclear what the profits of the company is, because “these accounts have yet to be tabled and are not available for public consumption as yet,” Post Fiji said. Mid last year, the company had been approved a 12 per cent increase for domestic postal services. Early last year, the company’s board chairman Mahendra Patel said that the “progress of Post Fiji is reflected in the growth of sales from a USD 13 million company in 1996 to the present turnover of USD 40 million in 2005.”