Swiss Post boosted by PostFinance growth

Swiss Post announced that Group profit soared by 16% during Q1 2011 – boosted by a rise in customer deposits at its banking arm PostFinance. Describing the results as “good”, the company revealed that Group profit rose to CHF 319m (EUR 252.9m) for the quarter, compared to CHF 274m (EUR 217.2m) for the corresponding period last year.

Swiss Post said the rise in customer deposits at PostFinance was the main reason behind the increase. “The positive development was primarily due to an increase in new customers and customer deposits,” a company statement said.

However, Swiss Post said that the “markets of communication, logistics and public passenger transport also showed slight improvements on the previous year”.

Despite the rise in Group profit, operating income across the Group fell by CHF13m to CHF 2.21bn. The company claimed that lower revenue from real estate disposals and foreign currency effects were behind the decline.

“Investments, which totalled CHF 62m and were once again entirely funded from the Group’s own resources, were slightly higher than the same period last year,” the company said, whilst adding that “total assets exceeded CHF 100bn for the first time”.

Operating income across a number of Swiss Post’s divisions suffered from decline. PostMail’s operating income stood at CHF 669m for the period (down from 2010’s CHF 680m). Other areas also suffered from a decline in operating income: Swiss Post Solutions (2011: CHF 139m; 2010: CHF 161m), Post Office & Sales (2011: CHF 445m; 2010: CHF 459m), and PostLogistics (2011: CHF 359m; 2010: CHF 377m).

However, Swiss Post International saw operating income grow from CHF 205m to CHF 220m over the period. PostBus also saw a rise in operating income, up to CHF 177m from CHF 171m.

In terms of PostFinance, 18,000 new customers joined the banking arm, including the opening of 48,000 new accounts (up by 9,500 compared to the corresponding period). The number of customers now stands at 2.77m.

“Average customer deposits rose by CHF 5.2bn to CHF 89.4bn. This increase led to improved net interest income, up by 22% on the same period last year, despite a consistently narrow interest margin. This is the main reason for earnings of CHF 181m in the first quarter of 2011 (+39% against the same period last year),” a statement said.

PostFinance said it is “satisfying customer needs with its attractive products and reasonable conditions”. The banking arm also created 116 new jobs during the period, mainly in regional locations.

(1 CHF = 0.79 EUR / 1 EUR = 1.26 CHF; xe.com, 9 May 2011)