Posten Norden improves operating earnings

Posten Norden has announced that it has improved its operating earnings through long-term cost adjustments during the first half of 2010. Net sales totalled SEK 21,149m (22,775m for the same period last year), whilst operating earnings totalled SEK 793m (690m). Meanwhile, earnings before tax stood at SEK 796m (894m). Posten Norden also revealed that, excluding participations in the earnings of De Post-La Poste, which was sold in July 2009, net earnings totalled SEK 607m (456m). Reported net earnings totalled SEK 607m (708m)

Group CEO Lars G Nordström said: “Postal markets throughout the world are undergoing sharp volume contractions due to substitution and the effects of the economic downturn. This means that costs must be adjusted to the new volume levels so that profitability can be maintained and the universal service obligations can be fulfilled.

“Posten Norden’s operating earnings increased 15% during the first six months of 2010, due primarily to long-term efforts made in recent years to adjust capacity and costs to lower volumes and to synergy effects of the merger. Net sales, excluding structural and currency changes, fell by 2% during the same period.

“Measures taken on the cost side had a tangible impact on group earnings during the period. This is illustrated not least by the improvement in business area Mail Denmark’s operating earnings. The Danish market, however, shows continued sharp letter volume contractions of over 10 per cent, and an equivalent degree of cost cuts can henceforth not be expected.

“In Sweden the economic recovery had a positive impact on letter volumes, but we are aware that sharp volume contractions will characterise the market going forward. Capacity adjustments in business area Mail Sweden, which had a positive impact on earnings as early as the first six months of 2009, will continue.

“Demand for business area Logistics’s services increased despite continued intense competition, and the business area reported increased earnings, excluding structural and currency changes, in the second quarter of 2010. The trend for Informationlogistics is also positive, though the business area has some way to go before it attains a positive result.

“Our efforts to create the Nordic region’s best communication and logistics company are underway. We are capitalising on the synergy effects of the merger according to plan, and we are continuously identifying new cost-saving opportunities. Posten Norden is well-equipped to meet our customers’ needs, and I am confident about the group’s continued progress.”