La Poste profits rise 41%
The French postal service La Poste reported a 41.6% net profit increase that saw net profit increase to EUR 789 million in 2006, from EUR 557 million the year before. The increase was attributed to strong express and parcels growth.
La Poste remained optimistic about the future and said it believed operating margins would continue to rise, to 5.8% for 2007. This positive outlook was partly due to reforms to its pension finances which had generated good results.
The company’s international turnover climbed to over EUR 3 billion (15.2% of overall revenues) in 2006. Express revenues rose 15.7% to EUR 2.93 billion with strong growth in assets in Eastern Europe, Germany and the UK making significant contributions.
External investment reached over EUR 500 million was invested externally and resulted in the acquisition of Exapaq, Orsid and Sogéposte (now part of Banque Postale). Total investment by the group thus increased by 70% to a record EUR 1.64 billion, from EUR 958 million in 2005.
Internal investment increased by 29% to EUR 1.136 billion. Work began on 20 hubs across France and 2006 saw the four new mail hubs open for business.
Electronic commerce assisted the reported parcels growth of 7.2% representing EUR 1.24 billion. The number of tracked parcels increased to 75% of the total compared to 60% in 2005. Two-day, on-time delivery reached 91%, 2% up on 2005.
La Poste mail revenues rose by a much smaller margin than those registered the previous year. Revenues in 2006 were up just 0.5%, to EUR 11.3 billion, when compared to a revenue gain of 3.4% in 2005.
Net debt grew 37% to almost EUR 6 billion at the end of 2006, compared to EUR 3.78 billion on 31 December 2005, mainly due to a one-off, EUR 2 billion pension fund payment to the state.
