PostNord issues interim report
PostNord has issued its interim report for the period January to September 2015. Summarising its performance, the company said that it was “still on the right track but in an even more challenging world”.
Net sales for January-September were SEK 28,917m – from SEK 29,350m for the same period last year, while the adjusted operating income was up slightly at SEK 426m.
Commenting on the results, Håkan Ericsson, the President and CEO of PostNord, said: “In the wake of continued digitization, mail volumes continued to decline, especially in Denmark. In total, mail volumes declined by 11% in the quarter, of which 23% in Denmark and 7% in Sweden. So far this year mail volumes have fallen by 9%, of which 18% in Denmark and 6% in Sweden. This means that the decline has accelerated additionally in Denmark and now only 18% of priority mail volumes remain compared to the top-level year, 1999.”
Ericsson argued that changes to postal regulations needed to be implemented “as quickly as possible” in order to “maintain a universal postal service in the long term under reasonable economic conditions”.
The PostNord CEO continued: “In August the Swedish government adopted terms of reference for a commission of inquiry into postal legislation and appointed a special inquiry official to review the postal regulations. The aim is for the official to submit the final report by May 31, 2016. We welcome this inquiry. In Denmark customers’ demand has entailed a shift of volumes from priority to non-priority mail, which means that priority mail has in practice become more of an express service. A substantial increase in the price of priority mail has been announced in order to attain reasonable economic conditions for priority letters.”
Ericsson concluded: “We are on the right track and are reinforcing our position as a leading communication and logistics operator, but rapidly declining mail volumes present us with major challenges. Further adaptation of capacity, cost efficiency measures and product development are therefore necessary to ensure long-term profitability. With a great focus on customers we will deliver on our promises.”
