Russian Post boosted by parcels and express growth
Russian Post has seen its net profits for the first half of the year increase by more than 20 times, though the figures are affected by “peculiarities” in this year’s financial services results. The operator reported revenues for the six months up to the end of June that increased 145.8% to 57.4bn rubles.
Profits of 4.8bn rubles were affected by changes made in social security service tariffs as the Post’s financial services revenue increased 17% largely thanks to the cut in discounts available on pension and benefit fees.
In general, the postal service said it expects to achieve a similar net income in the full 2011 to that seen in 2010.
Russian Post did see a 19% in its postal service revenues, to 24.6bn rubles, assisted by a 22% growth in parcel income and the fastest-growing segment, express mail services, which saw a 34% increase in its 1.3bn ruble revenues.
Although mail volumes declined in the first half of the year, postal rates increased back in February by an average of 10.6%.
Debt levels at the Post remained stable at around 12bn rubles, with the company’s debt restructured and simplified to improve its conditions.
Russian Post said its staff costs for the year had risen 14% from 34.2bn to 39bn as a result of a rise in social security tax rates. Increased transportation costs, particularly with increased fuel prices, saw other expenses rise 17% from 10.6bn to 12.4bn rubles.
The Postal operator, which is going through a modernisation process at present as it seeks to turn around its service reliability, increased its spending on its network in the first half this year by 17% compared to the same period last year. A total 7.8bn rubles was spent rebuilding post offices as well as stepping up repairs and maintenance for the Post’s equipment and IT systems.
Some 2.8bn rubles went into capital expenditures including 1.2bn spent on modernisation of postal services, 800m rubles on developing logistics infrastructure, 300m spent on new postal equipment and 300m on software.
