Australia Post delivers more mail and record profits
Australia Post earned a record pre-tax profit of USD 561.7 million in 2006/07 (up 8.9 per cent on the previous year), according to the corporation’s Annual Report, which was released today.
This record financial result underlines the strength of the postal corporation, with revenue growth in all three of its core business areas – letters, parcels and retail – also contributing to record-high revenue of USD 4.71 billion (up 4 per cent).
Australia Post’s 2006/07 Annual Report also indicates that Australian mail volumes are continuing to grow – despite predictions that paper-based mail would decline in the era of electronic communications.
Domestic letter volumes grew by 1.9 per cent (or 93.1 million items), which is the strongest increase in letter volumes since the 1990s. And domestic parcel volumes increased by 3.7 per cent – making this the fifth successive year of robust growth for Australia Post’s parcels network.
Australia Post met or exceeded all of its customer service charter commitments during 2006/07. This includes on-time letter delivery performance of 96.3 per cent (up from 95.6 per cent last year).
Other key results and highlights from the 2006/07 Annual Report include:
– a record net profit of USD 400.7 million
– return on revenue of 11.9 per cent
– productivity improvement of 3.2 per cent
– total mail volumes increased by 1.8 per cent to 5.51 billion items
– the delivery network now reaches 10.26 million addresses (up 218,000 on previous year)
– the maintenance of Australia’s largest retail network, with 4,449 postal outlets
– workplace safety improved, with a record low LTIFR of 7.4 lost-time injuries per million work hours
– the launch of a new brand advertising campaign: Australia Post – Part of every day.
The strong profit result means that the postal corporation will return a dividend of USD 296.9 million (based on 75 per cent of net profit) to its shareholder, the Federal Government. The Annual Report also reveals that Australia Post paid USD 474.9 million in government taxes and charges during the year.
Out of Australia Post’s three core business areas, the letters business has traditionally been the major contributor to the corporation’s revenue and profit. But this year, for the second year running, the before tax profit earned by the parcels & logistics business (USD 255.9 million) exceeded that of the letters business (USD 160 million).
Australia Post’s Managing Director Graeme John said he was pleased with the strong results achieved across all areas of the corporation.
