An Post gets the stamp of approval and delivers profit
For a service provider that was on its knees just a few years ago, An Post has engineered a remarkable reversal of its financial fortunes.
Between 2001 and 2003 it made accumulated losses of EUR 67m, having reported a loss of almost EUR 43m in 2003 alone. There was little doubt the organisation was fit for intensive care.
By late 2003, it was selling assets simply to meet its wage bill. For the first time in its history, it resorted to an overdraft, using the facility during the final weeks of that year. An Post had become a financial basket case.
In early 2004, the then chief executive, Donal Curtin, said the company was on a “knife edge”. He sold off the loss-making SDS delivery business and, in the process of shaking up An Post, alienated the unions. But in 2004, An Post returned to the black, making a profit of over EUR 11.6m from continuing operations. In 2005, that rose to EUR 16.2m, but in 2006 it slipped to EUR 14.6m before exceptional items.
However, the overall profit figures were skewed in 2005 and 2006 by the sale of a site on the Naas Road in Dublin, which resulted in a net gain of EUR 94.7m, and by a further EUR 59.3m gain from the company’s Post TS UK and An Post Transaction Services businesses, which were sold to Alphyra. An Post accounts have yet to be released for 2007.
For years the organisation, faced with the prospect of a completely liberalised market from 2011, has been hatching plans to reduce overheads and boost revenue.
That has resulted in its joint venture with Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis, but also in other attempts to revamp the traditional notion of the service.
Among the ideas previously floated has been the elimination, in some areas at least, of direct-to-door postal delivery. Customers might instead be expected to collect their post from the local post office.
None of this has happened yet, and it could an unemployable strategy as An Post gradually reduces the number of rural post offices, in particular, with a view to streamlining the organisation and preparing for a tougher environment.
But part of its plans to shrink its footprint and save money has incensed some interests, particularly some so-called postal contractors, who provide services in mainly rural areas.
There are currently just under 1,300 such outlets, typically located in local shops such as newsagents.
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