Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on January 20, 2025
(Reuters) - Dutch postal operator PostNL cut its 2024 operating profit forecast for the second time on Monday, with its top executive citing less seasonal mail than expected in December and an "unsustainable" business model.
The Amsterdam-listed stock fell 3.2% in early trading.
Slow to expand their parcel networks and at times in financial trouble, traditional postal services in Europe are struggling to keep up with competition from other parcel locker firms such as Poland's InPost and Amazon.
"Urgent action to adjust the USO obligations (universal service obligations) as well as a financial contribution from government are inevitable to safeguard a future-proof and financially viable postal service," PostNL CEO Herna Verhagen said in a statement.
One of the few European incumbent mail operators without any state participation, PostNL now estimates its normalised earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) at around 53 million euros ($54.64 million) for 2024.
The company, which delivers parcels and letters across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, had in November said it expected normalised EBIT of around 80 million euros, at the bottom of its previously given outlook range.
"4Q24 results disappointed due to an acceleration of existing trends, with the key driver for the outlook miss being the higher-than-expected client concentration at parcels in 4Q24," KBC analysts said in a note to clients.
PostNL also forecast free cash flow of about 12 million euros, up from the previously expected break-even, citing well-executed cash and balance sheet management.
($1 = 0.9700 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Alessandro Parodi; Editing by Milla Nissi)
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