Posti Group 1–6/2020: Postal volume decline at record level – fast actions taken to mitigate profitability impact

Posti Group Corporation Half-Year Financial Report January–June 2020

April–June

Financial highlights

• Net sales were at the previous year’s level, EUR 392.3 (393.8) million.
• Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 34.5 (37.3) million, or 8.8% (9.5%) of net sales.
• EBITDA increased to EUR 34.2 (32.4) million, or 8.7% (8.2%) of net sales.
• The adjusted operating result decreased to EUR 3.1 (8.1) million, representing 0.8% (2.1%) of net sales.
• The operating result decreased to EUR 0.6 (3.2) million, representing 0.2% (0.8%) of net sales.

The figures in 4-6/2020 and 4-6/2019 are not fully comparable because the operations of Aditro Logistics have been included in Posti’s financials as of April 2020, but they are not part of the financials of the comparable period in 2019.

January–June

Financial highlights

• Net sales decreased by 1.8% to EUR 776.5 (790.4) million.
• Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 75.2 (77.9) million, or 9.7% (9.9%) of net sales.
• EBITDA increased to EUR 74.4 (68.8) million, or 9.6% (8.7%) of net sales.
• The adjusted operating result decreased to EUR 15.6 (20.3) million, representing 2.0% (2.6%) of net sales.
• The operating result improved to EUR 12.5 (11.2) million, representing 1.6% (1.4%) of net sales.
• Net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 2.0x (1.1x).

Operational highlights

• The global COVID-19 pandemic began to impact on Posti’s operations in March. Posti’s Parcel and eCommerce business group benefited from the growth of online shopping, while the demand for traditional postal services decreased even faster than previously due to the pandemic.
• The execution of Posti’s transformation continued:
  • The combined net sales of Parcel and eCommerce as well as logistics businesses represented already 56% (51%) of the Group’s net sales.
  • The parcel volume of Finland and the Baltic countries increased by 19% (8%). At the same time, the number of addressed letters decreased by 20% (14%) in Finland.
  • The share of mail items covered by the universal service obligation continued to decrease and accounted for only 2.7% (3.4%) of all Posti’s mail items delivered.
  • On April 2, Posti closed the acquisition of Aditro Logistics, a Swedish contract logistics company. The acquisition was in line with Posti’s ambition of expanding its geographical footprint.

The figures in 1-6/2020 and 1-6/2019 are not fully comparable because the operations of Aditro Logistics have been included in Posti’s financials as of April 2020, but they are not part of the financials of the comparable period in 2019.

Outlook for 2020 (unchanged)

The coronavirus situation makes the macro economic outlook extremely difficult to predict for the full year. Posti maintains its outlook for 2020, but because of these exceptional circumstances, Posti’s full-year outlook includes a significant level of uncertainty.

As a result of the increasing market uncertainty and expected impact of coronavirus on the Finnish and global economy, Posti’s net sales in 2020, excluding possible new acquisitions and divestments, are expected to decrease from the previous year. The Group’s adjusted operating result in 2020 is expected to increase from the previous year, when the postal strike had a significant negative impact on Posti’s results.

The Group’s business is characterized by seasonality. Net sales and operating result in the segments are not accrued evenly over the year. In Postal Services and consumer parcels, the first and fourth quarters are typically strong, while the second and third quarters are weaker.

Turkka Kuusisto, President and CEO

We could clearly see how the impact of COVID-19 accelerated the already steep decline of postal volumes even further. The number of addressed letters decreased by a record-breaking 24% in Finland in the second quarter. This obviously had a significant negative impact on Posti’s financials, and recovery actions were initiated immediately. The ongoing digitalization of our society, as well as the postal strike in 2019, had a big impact on Posti’s operations, but the COVID-19 situation further accelerated the volume decline. This has increased the pressure to accelerate Posti’s transformation.

To be able run our operations as safely as possible despite the COVID-19 situation, we have made several changes to our processes and to the way we work. This has impacted our operations and increased costs. Posti needs to ensure that its operations are competitive in all future scenarios. We can clearly see that our legacy cost structure is a major challenge for us in the rapidly changing world. We need to continue to address this and unfortunately it means different kind of actions within all our businesses and in our administration to secure our profitability.

The COVID-19 situation has significantly increased our parcel volumes. Since March this year, our daily, weekly and monthly parcel volumes have experienced a clear step change. This has had a positive impact on Posti’s result. We need to prepare for a new normal in our parcel operations as we expect that a substantial portion of future consumer purchases has permanently moved to online platforms.

Our freight operations were impacted by the effect of COVID-19 on the overall economy. Despite the challenging market environment, our freight operations continued to improve their efficiency in the second quarter.

Also, Transval’s operations continued to show improved efficiency and overall positive development for the entire business group. We are very pleased with the acquisition and the new markets this has brought to Posti’s transformation journey during the past 18 months.

The operations of Aditro Logistics, which has been part of the Posti family since April 2020, have been significantly affected by the COVID-19 situation. Even though the impact has varied between different customer segments, the overall impact on Aditro Logistics has been clearly negative. However, Aditro Logistics continues to follow its growth strategy. The integration of Aditro Logistics into the Posti Group has proceeded as planned, despite the COVID-19 situation. This new business segment is a vital part in Posti’s transformation and supports our goal to grow our logistics, parcel and eCommerce businesses.

Itella Russia continued its strong profit development. Under very difficult market circumstances, our Russian operations continued to improve the scope of their operations and to maximize profitability. This has been great work from the entire team in Russia.

Posti Team, i.e. all our employees, have demonstrated remarkable resilience and commitment during these unusual times. Unfortunately, we have had to introduce temporary layoffs and other measures to mitigate the situation financially. Even though we have been able to avoid mass layoffs, the majority of Posti’s employees have had to make personal sacrifices due to the exceptional situation. I’m very honored and privileged to be the CEO of this team and to see how well our operations are coping, despite these exceptional times.

APPENDICES

Posti Group's Half-Year Report 2020 in full (PDF)