bpost revenues boosted by “excellent” parcels growth
Belgium’s bpost has reported that its first quarter (Q1) revenues were up 26.4% to €764.0m, driven by “excellent” parcels growth and acquisitions and supported by resilient domestic mail. Domestic parcel volumes for the quarter were up 24.5%, as a result of e-commerce and C2C growth. International parcel revenues were also up, supported by an increase in flow from China and the US.
Commenting on the results, bpost CEO Koen Van Gerven said: “I’m very happy that the first quarter shows a good start to the year, with an outstanding Parcels performance both domestically as well as internationally.”
The bpost CEO continued: “Domestic mail volumes proved to be resilient especially against the very strong first quarter of last year. Our results were furthermore influenced by the integration of new acquisitions, which provide additional potential for EBITDA growth in the future.
“Bottom line, we did better than last year by €1.1m on EBITDA, fully in line with our guidance.”
Van Gerven then alluded to the Belgian regulator BIPT’s recent decision not to approve bpost’s proposed stamp price increase: “We will appeal the Regulator’s decision for 2017 regarding the stamp price and we are working on our 2018 price increase. With all of this I’m confident that the company will again deliver on what we have promised, so I confirm our outlook for the year 2017.”
Click here to see a PDF of bpost’s statement regarding its Q1 results.
