Swiss Post announce Q1 drop

In the first quarter of 2009, Swiss Post generated Group profit of CHF 198m despite the difficult economic climate.

In the first quarter of 2009, Swiss Post generated Group profit of CHF 198m despite the difficult economic climate.

However, this result is CHF 30m down on the first quarter of the previous year.

The drop represents a fall of 13%. The drop in profit is attributable to pay rises, writedowns on financial investments necessitated by the situation on the financial market during the quarter under review, as well as the decline in letter volumes, said Swiss Post.

The number of addressed letters dropped by 3.1%, which is significantly more than in the same period last year.

Compared with 2008, operating income rose by CHF 35m to CHF 2,208m. This increase was primarily due to currency effects in international postal traffic. At CHF 70m, investments were more or less on a par with the previous year.

In view of the unfavourable economic climate and the drop in earnings which the company will experience as a result of the announced price cuts for letters as of 1 July, Swiss Post is expecting its annual results to be significantly down on last year.