PostNL reports Q1 2024 results
Outlook for 2024 confirmed
The Hague, 6 May 2024
Highlights Q1 2024
- Parcel volumes up 4.6%, with domestic volumes resuming growth and continued strong growth from international customers
- Mail volumes down 12.5% (-8.3% adjusted for election mail), mainly due to ongoing substitution
- Continued high organic cost increase of €24 million, mainly labour-related
- 14% further improvement in average carbon efficiency
- Outlook 2024 confirmed
CEO statement
Herna Verhagen, CEO of PostNL, said: "We are making steady progress on the strategic actions that we announced in February and keep on adjusting our operations and offerings to adapt to changing market circumstances. In the first quarter we operated in a challenging environment with rising costs, mainly labour-related. In line with expectations, the result came in below last year.
"The combination of the ongoing severe decline in mail volumes and a further shift toward non-24 hour mail services, along with high labour costs, has led to a negative performance by Mail in the Netherlands. This underpins the urgent need for transformation. We aim to adjust the service level for standard mail to delivery within two days, moving towards three days over time, aligning with our customers' and consumers' needs. To achieve this, a modification in postal regulation is needed. The Minister of Economic Affairs is in the lead of this process. Our efforts to fill the vacancies for mail deliverers are showing good progress and will contribute to enhancing delivery quality. We are committed to keeping the postal service in the Netherlands reliable, accessible and affordable, providing job security to thousands of people.
"At Parcels, overall volumes grew, trending towards our full year growth projections. Domestic volumes resumed growth, and volumes from international customers have increased significantly, leading to a continuation of the shift to a less favourable mix. As expected, ongoing organic cost increases put pressure on our results. We are gaining momentum on our strategic actions to better balance volume and value and these will start contributing to our results in the course of 2024. Concrete steps are currently being taken to rationalise our products and services portfolio. We are committed to sustainable growth and recently added to our network a state-of-the-art sorting facility equipped with innovative solar energy storage.
"We are confident in the long-term growth potential of the e-commerce market, driven by online penetration and assuming improving economic conditions. Taking into account the developments in Q1 and the still volatile geopolitical and economic environment, we confirm our 2024 outlook for normalised EBIT between €80 million and €110 million and free cash flow of between €0 and €40 million."
About PostNL
We are PostNL, here for everyone, bringing it all together for 225 years. With an extensive network of nearly 5,800 PostNL points, 11,000 letterboxes, and over 900 automated, also open to various carriers, along with millions of users of the PostNL app, we're always close by. We aim to be everyone's favourite deliverer by making it as easy as possible to send and receive parcels and mail. With nearly 34,000 colleagues working with us, we are part of society. We offer a range of services, including mail and parcel delivery, logistic e-commerce solutions, and cross-border solutions. On an average weekday in the Benelux, we deliver 1.1 million parcels and 6.9 million letters. We are commitment to customer satisfaction, providing opportunities for our employees, and generating value for our stakeholders through growth, digitalisation, and sustainability.
We optimise and support our physical networks through the use of smart digital solutions and introduce new propositions that add value for our customers. And aim for sustainable employment relationships by being a good employer to all people working with and for us. We focus on sustainability, making many journeys on foot and by bicycle, increasingly using cleaner fuels and electric vehicles, and offering innovative city logistics. PostNL N.V. is a publicly traded company with a turnover of €3.2 billion in 2023, 62% of which e-commerce related.