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La Poste 2001 Financial Press Release

French state-owned post office La Poste (F.PST) Thursday reported a net loss of EUR95 million [US$84 million] in 2001, as it wrote down EUR170 million [US$150 million] in goodwill amortization following the restructuring of its parcel delivery unit, GeoPost. That net loss compares with a net profit of EUR139.2 million [US$123 million] in 2000.

La Poste (F.PST) Chairman Martin Vial promised a swift improvement in profitability in 2002 after a EUR170 million write-off at its Geopost express parcel delivery subsidiary pushed France’s powerful national post office to its worst result since 1998. ‘We had a difficult year in 2001,’ said Vial in an interview Thursday with Dow Jones Newswires. ‘Our outlook is for a recovery and a return to increased profitability in 2002.’ La Poste – Europe’s second largest post office by revenue after Deutsche Post AG – reported a net loss of EUR95 million in 2001, down from a profit the year before of EUR139.2 million. As well as the EUR170 million Geopost write-off, La Poste said its earnings were dented by a combination of slower economic growth in France, higher transport charges and extra costs linked to the switch to the euro and a new 35-hour work week.

La Poste, the French post office, is to announce its results for 2001 today. Chairman Martin Vial has said that profits have been affected by the economic slowdown and the anthrax scare. The last quarter of 2001 was characterised by a fall in activity caused by the increasing use of e-mail and the Vitale card.