Post NL profits decline in Q3
Post NL has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2011. Revenue declined by 2.0% year-on-year to €996m in Q3 2011 from €1,016m in the same period of 2010. Profits also slumped from €83m in the third quarter of 2010 to €70m in 2011.
Revenue from its key Mail division declined from €564m to €545m, however revenue from its Parcels and International businesses improved from €133m to €143m and €345m to €367m year-on-year in the third quarter, respectively.
Harry Koorstra, CEO of PostNL, stated: "The positive development in our operations was strongly continued in the third quarter: addressed mail volumes have developed better than expected, OPTA approved new stamp prices that will be effective as of January 2012 and step-by-step Master plan III is being rolled out. Parcels delivers as promised and shows good growth in volumes, revenues and results. International’s performance again improved and with the sale of the mailroom activities in Italy in October, the focus on value realisation in International has been successfully concluded.
On the back of the operational performance during the first nine months of the year, I expect an underlying cash operating income for the full year above the top end of the €130 – 170m range.
Since our last results, the financial markets have been extremely turbulent, leading to impairment on the Express stake. Dutch interest rates are at historically low levels. The coverage ratio of the main pension fund dropped well below the minimum required level, resulting in possible substantial recovery payments in the period 2012 – 2014. In addition, regular pension premiums will probably increase from next year. All this will impact our capability of paying cash dividend the next few years.
We are looking at a variety of ways to mitigate some of the impact of the pension developments. An improvement in the health of the economy could have a positive impact on pensions and dividend."
Quelle: eyefortransport
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