Poste Italiane is 12% down in first quarter
National postal service Poste Italiane reported a 12 % year-on-year fall in first-quarter operating profit, due to lower capital gains from government bond sales and higher costs says Reuters.
Earning before interest and tax (EBIT) came in at 617 million euros ($691 million), down from 703 million euros in the same period of last year, according to a company statement. Adjusted to exclude one-off items EBIT rose 6 %.
Total revenue at the group, comprising of an insurance and a financial division, the traditional mail and parcel business and a digital payments unit, fell 1.5 % year-on-year to 2.84 billion euros.
Sales at Poste’s mail and parcel division, which are an indicator of the group’s ability to turnaround its traditional business, fell 2.1 percent for a 44 percent drop in the unit’s EBIT.
A new parcel sorting centre in Bologna was set to add daily capacity of 250,000 parcels, Chief Executive Matteo del Fante reportedly said. ($1 = 0.8926 euros).
