Swiss Post on track in challenging market environment

After the first nine months of 2014, Group profit at Swiss Post stood at 494 million francs, which represents a decline of 7.7 (7.663) percent year-on- year. Operating profit fell by 137 million francs to 632 million francs. The decline in operating profit is due to the lower contribution to results from the retail financial market. The number of addressed letters continued to fall. The logistics market faced intense competition.

In the communication market, Swiss Post recorded an operating profit of 188 million francs in the three quarters of 2014 (previous year: 178 million francs). This improvement is due to positive income trends in the Swiss Post Solutions segment and lower expenses in the PostMail segment. Operating income at PostMail and Post Offices & Sales decreased as a result of volume factors. The number of addressed letters fell by 2.5 percent, while the number of unaddressed items was up 2.7 percent. In the logistics market, Swiss Post recorded an operating profit of 97 million francs, which is around three million francs more than in the prior-year period. The increase is due to business optimization measures. Operating income declined as a result of intense competition. Parcel volumes rose by two percent. The passenger transport market is growing steadily. Swiss Post achieved an operating profit of 36 million francs in this market (previous year: 27 million francs). This increase was mainly due to the expansion of services in Switzerland and France as well as to one-off transport revenue, particularly as a result of adjustments to cost apportionment of the fare networks.

PostFinance result impacted by higher impairment charges
In the retail financial market, PostFinance is still facing a difficult market environment due to persistently low interest rates, recording an operating profit of 309 million francs (previous year: 443 million francs). Net interest income before impairment remained virtually on a par with the prior-year period despite increased customer deposits. Higher portfolio impairment charges and a rise in non-staff costs led to a drop in results. The inflow of new money totalled 1,010 million francs in the first three quarters of the year, and average customer assets comprised 115 billion francs in September.

Outlook
In light of the current position, Swiss Post expects to record a solid result for 2014 as a whole. Group profit may however be below the previous year’s level.


Medienkontakt:
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