La Poste reports 4.5% revenue growth and strong GeoPost performance
La Poste has reported that its operating revenue for the first half of 2015 was €11,459m, up 4.5% on last year, and its operating profit was up by more than 44% to €616m. Revenue increased for all business units, said La Poste, with “particularly dynamic growth” in express activities (through GeoPost) and the banking sector.
The Services-Mail-Parcels business unit generated overall revenue of €5,757m, up 0.6% on last year’s performance, and operating profit rose by 65% to €508m. Mail revenue remained stable (+0.2%) at €4,732m.
La Poste commented: “Rapidly declining addressed mail volumes (-7%) were offset by the price increase that took effect on 1 January 2015 (+7% on average, under the multi-annual framework defined with ARCEP) as well as by an active innovation policy.”
Revenue for the Parcels business rose by 2.2% to €770m, and La Poste said this was mainly due to a “favourable price/product mix effect”.
La Poste added: “The subsidiaries positioned in the logistics (Viapost Services) and in the unaddressed advertising material delivery markets (Mediapost), recorded a 2.1% increase in revenue, to €256m, in line with their strategy to win back market share, and despite a tense competitive environment in unaddressed advertising in France.”
Asendia, La Poste’s joint venture with Swiss Post, achieved revenue of €236m, up 9.6% on last year.
GeoPost has continued to show strong growth, with revenue for the first half of 2015 up by 16.5% to €2,693m. The UK and Poland were among the top performers, with revenue growth of 24% and 16% respectively. GeoPost’s operating profit was up by almost 35% to €171m.
Commenting on GeoPost’s performance, La Poste added: “The first half of the year was characterised by the implementation of a new brand identity (DPD Group), the development of handling capacities and the expansion of delivery solutions (development of the pick-up and drop-off network, making the Predict option a more widespread offering and roll-out of weekend delivery in certain countries).”
La Poste also highlighted the expansion of GeoPost’s strategic partnership with PostNord.
La Poste concluded its statement with a confirmation of its annual outlook: “For 2015, the Group anticipates around 3% revenue growth, an increase in its operating profit and a substantial improvement in cash generation.”
