Recession eating away at Thailand Post profits

Thailand Post has adjusted its profit target down from 1.6bn baht to 1bn as local businesses increasingly feel the impact of the global economic crisis.

Thailand Post has adjusted its profit target down from 1.6bn baht to 1bn as local businesses increasingly feel the impact of the global economic crisis.

President Oamsin Cheewaplueck said the state enterprise had earlier set its net profit target this year at 1.6bn baht, up from 972m last year.

But due to the poor outlook in the first quarter, when revenues from all services fell 10%, due to the economic recession and increasing unemployment, it has to adjust its profit target down.

He said that Thailand Post’s revenues from mail services, money orders, and Pay at Post also declined, partly because of the government’s decision to waive power and water bills for low-income earners.

However, he was optimistic that overall revenue this year would reach 15bn baht, up 2-3% from last year, helped by more event marketing and logistics activities.

Anusra Jitmitraparp, senior executive vice-president, said logistics services were still showing steady growth.

She said Thailand Post will focus on corporate clients such as banks, soft drink and food companies because they wanted reliable and quality transport providers with integrated services.

She said Thailand Post also planned to adapt its postal centres nationwide to be cargo distribution centres and to use its network channels as service points to deliver services directly to the homes of customers.

She said the transport service had become more popular among consumers with revenues last year of 200m baht or 9% of total revenue. By the end of this year, the revenue share was expected to climb to 11-12%.