Bpost suffered a loss of 19.2 million euros last year. This is the result of a substantial capital loss on the sale of Bpost Bank. A year earlier there was a net profit of 154.7 million.
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A combination of mediocre operating results and losses on participating interests means that Bpost is making a loss for the first time since its IPO. But it actually goes back even further in time, because Bpost came to the stock exchange in 2014 as a healthy company. This at 14.50 euros per share. Today it is nearly a third below that price.
The operating income increased by 8.3 percent but the operating profit decreased by 30.8 percent to 200.7 million. The loss amounts to 19.2 million. It is striking that the number of employees rose again. This with 9.2 percent to 38,639 if the interim workers are also included.
The sale of the 50 percent stake in Bpost Bank to BNP Paribas Fortis was accompanied by a write-off of 141.6 million. Newspaper shops and International Mail were also written off (62.1 million).
It is striking that in the historical cash flow, letter post, an operating loss was recorded in the fourth quarter, mainly due to write-offs. But there also appears to be no positive effect of the introduction of slow mail distribution whereby non-priority mail is distributed only twice a week. The operating loss amounted to 15.5 million in the fourth quarter. Without the write-offs, there would still be a one-third decline in operating profit. It remains to be seen how the stock market estimates these weak figures tomorrow. In recent days, the Bpost share had risen because foreign postal companies good figures published.
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