Swiss Post half-yearly 2007 result
In the first half of 2007, Swiss Post generated Group profit of 507 million Swiss francs – up 72 million francs on the first half of the previous year. The increase was caused by real estate sales and a strong operating performance. Almost all units contributed to the positive result, but performance was mixed. From today’s standpoint, Swiss Post expects its full-year result for 2007 to be better than the previous year.
Swiss Post turned in another good result in the first half of 2007. At 507 million francs, Group profit was up by 72 million francs on the previous year’s first-half result of 435 million francs. The increase is attributable both to operating performance and to the sale of real estate not required for business operations. Operating income rose to 4,300 million francs (3,796 million francs in the first half of 2006).
While almost all Group units contributed to the positive Group result, performance was mixed. At PostMail, the decline in volumes of addressed letters continued on a significant scale, with a fall of 1.2 pct from the first half of 2007. By contrast, the positive economic conditions led to a 2.3 pct increase in unaddressed mailings and a 1.5pct increase in newspaper deliveries. One-off expenses in connection with the modernization of letter processing operations (REMA project) led to a decrease in the operating result of 54 million francs to 146 million francs. As a result of higher costs, PostLogistics posted a slightly lower operating result of 45 million francs (first half of 2006: 54 million francs).
Higher yields on the money and capital markets enabled PostFinance to increase its earnings to 140 million francs (129 million francs). PostBus achieved an operating result of 17 million francs (first half of 2006: 21 million francs). The decline is due primarily to increasing competition. In the International unit, margins were depressed by a deterioration in purchasing conditions; as a consequence, the operating result of 24 million francs was lower than in the first half of 2006 (32 million francs). Thanks to an increase in sales and tight cost management, the result of the Post Office Network, while still negative, improved to minus 22 million francs (first half of 2006: minus 62 million francs).
The “New Businesses” unit improved its result to 11 million francs (first half of 2006: 4 million francs); the German GHP Group, not yet included in the result for the first half of 2006, played a key part in this. At 135 million francs, the result for the “Other” unit was up significantly on the first half of 2006 (52 million francs). Proceeds from the sale of real estate not or no longer required for operating purposes made a key contribution to the result.
