Sweden’s Posten AB heading for a serious financial crisis
The new CEO of Sweden’s Posten AB, Mr Börge Österholm, believes that his company is heading for a serious financial crisis. ‘We haven’t got to the crisis stage yet, but unless we do something, we will’, one of Sweden’s leading papers, ‚Svenska Dagbladet’ (4.2) quotes Mr Österholm. The paper further reports that the post would have to cope with considerable losses, and unless this trend was broken the company would find itself bankrupt within the next two years.
The drop in letter volumes remains the post’s most urgent problem. Although that volume dropped by only 1% last year, it fell by 3.5% in 2001, and Mr Österholm reckons that this will be a lasting trend.
One of the post’s first remedial measures will be the closure of some of its currently twelve letter transhipment centres. In addition, various electronic services, which have only partly lived up to expectations, are to be discontinued. 1,000 jobs would be cut over the next three years, said Mr Österholm.
