Austrian Post reports “slight revenue increase” for 2017
Austrian Post has reported a “slight revenue increase” for 2017, up 2.3% to €1,939m.
In a statement issued yesterday (21 February), Austrian Post said that its preliminary figures showed a 2.1% decline in revenue for the Mail & Branch Network Division – which was down to €1,448m – but added that this was “more than compensated by a 17.7% increase in revenue in the Parcel & Logistics Division”, up to €496m.
“The decrease in revenue in the mail business was primarily caused by the ongoing electronic substitution of letters,” said Austrian Post. “On the other hand, the parcel segment showed strong growth due to the e-commerce trend. During the reporting period, additional revenue was also generated by the new product structure featuring the “Packet”, a special offering tailored to the requirements of online orders.”
Austrian Post added: “The general revenue trends in the first three quarters of the 2017 financial year continued in the fourth quarter. Mail volumes in the traditional addressed letter mail decreased by about 5% in the current period under review. A decline of this magnitude is also to be expected in the future. For this reason, it is all the more important to maintain high quality standards and continually upgrade the product offering on the basis of current customer needs. The company is continuously pressing ahead with expanding its online services as a useful addition to its physical offering in order to enable customers to enjoy the greatest possible flexibility and efficiency in their communication. At the same time, traditional letter mail products are being optimised on an ongoing basis.”
The postal operator was pleased with its progress in the parcel sector. Its overall share of the Austrian parcels market rose from 45% to 47%, as it handled 97m parcels in 2017 compared to 81m in 2016.
Meanwhile, the company’s parcel subsidiaries in South East and Eastern Europe delivered a record volume of 37m parcels in 2017.
Austrian Post signed off its statement on the 2017 results with the notification that its network “will be considerably expanded and modernised by targeted investments in the logistics infrastructure in the coming years”.
“In the medium term,” Austrian Post added, “the company’s total sorting capacity is aimed to be increased to over 100,000 parcels per hour, and with this more than doubling annual parcel delivery capacities.”
