Posti’s net sales see 1.5% decline in Q1

The net sales of the national postal and logistic services operator Posti Group saw a 1.5 per cent decrease to EUR 407.50 million in January-March this year.

The combined parcel volume of Finland and the Baltic countries, however, increased 10 per cent, with 21 per cent of this growth coming from consumer (B2C) parcels, said an official press release.

Measured in waybills and excluding food logistics, Posti’s domestic freight grew five per cent. The number of addressed letters experienced a 10 per cent decline in Finland.

“The transformation of the postal service continued in the first quarter, as the market further shifted towards parcels and logistics. Due to the increasing impact of digitalization, the number of addressed letters delivered by Posti decreased 10 per cent, compared to the previous year. Easter mail volumes, however, remained at the previous year’s level,” said Posti Group President and CEO Heikki Malinen.

He said Posti’s net sales in January-March decreased slightly and the adjusted operating result was EUR 11.5 million, representing 2.8 per cent of net sales.

The mail, parcel, and logistics services revenue grew 0.7 per cent, driven by parcels and logistics, and the adjusted operating result decreased by EUR 3.7 million.

“Operational cost increases, part of which we do not expect to continue, were not sufficiently mitigated through efficiency improvements. Wage increases originating from collective bargaining and a challenging flu season required the utilisation of additional labour. Posti has set clear savings targets for the year 2018 and will continue to actively pursue methods to improve efficiency and savings. In 2017, Posti achieved net savings of EUR 35 million,” the CEO added.