Growth underlines €350m expansion plan at Poland’s Integer.pl

Poland’s Integer.pl Group, the postal operator behind the growing network of European “easyPack” automated parcel terminals, has posted a 41% increase in profits for the year 2011. The company said today its total sales for the year were up 24% compared to 2010, to PLN 251.6m (EUR 60.8m), with PLN 23.3m (5.6m EUR) of net profit for 2011.

During the fourth quarter of 2011, Integer.pl saw its consolidated revenues up 38% compared to the same period in 2010, to PLN 78.15m (18.9m EUR) for the quarter, with net profit for the three months up 77% year-on-year to 7.04m zl (1.70m EUR).

Around 65% of the company’s revenue was generated by its automated parcel machine division, it said.

Through its InPost brand, Integer.pl has been working to spread its automated parcel terminal system to countries including Spain, Russia, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Estonia, Lithuania and as far afield as Chile.

Last week, Dublin-based parcel carrier Nightline was revealed to be the latest partner to take up the InPost technology, to establish a new network of parcel terminals across Ireland.

Latvia is also set to host InPost parcel terminals.

Priority

Rafal Brzoska, the Integer.pl chief executive, said towards the end of the year had seen his company shifting into a priority to pursue foreign markets for its business through extensive promotional and sales activity and the securing of strategic new business partners.

“The year 2011 was full of strategic contracts, including production, delivery, installation and implementation of easyPack machines in seven countries around the world,” he said, not counting his native Poland, where InPost is expecting to open an additional 400 units this year as it aims towards a 1,000-strong network.

Within Poland, 2011 saw InPost expanding demand within its parcel terminal network by expanding the number of online retailers using the delivery points from 1,000 to 3,000.

There has been a 400% increase in the number of items delivered through the “Paczkomaty InPost” network from January 2010 to December 2011.

Integer.pl is now in the process of a EUR 350m plan that it hopes will see 16,000 of its parcel machines installed across Europe over the next five years. It is planning to invest 40-80m zl on the plan in 2012.

Domestic mail

Meanwhile, in its domestic mail operations Integer.pl Group has seen its Polish letter mail volumes growing from about 70m pieces in 2009 with expectations that it will reach around 220m-250m in 2012.

By the end of the year, the Group plans to open 300 new postal stores in Poland, and to increase the number of local areas it provides services for individual customers to 550, and for organisations to 8,000.

Integer.pl Group is aiming to increase its postal and courier market share in Poland to 18-20% in 2012, it said, while also developing and expanding its portfolio of hybrid mail services, combining traditional postal services with email functionality.

Integer.pl won a legal case against Poland’s universal service provider, Polish Post, at the start of the year regarding its addition of metal plates to business letters to allow its bulk mail services to avoid Poland’s mail monopoly restrictions, although there could be an appeal.