Australia Post has announced a full-year loss after tax of A$222m (US$155m) (A$352m (US$246m) before tax), driven by the continued decline in letter volumes.
Addressed letter volumes fell by 7.3%, with ordinary stamped letters falling by 10.3%, as Australians continue to switch to digital alternatives, with losses in the mail business growing to A$381m (US$266m). Group revenue remained stable at A$6.37bn, with parcels revenue up 3.6% to A$3.21bn (US$2.24bn), for the first time delivering more than half of total revenue.
Despite recording a full financial year loss, Ahmed Fahour, managing director and group CEO, Australia Post, said the business had now made important headway reforming the letters service.
Fahour said, “As we had forecast, this has been a challenging but crucial year of transition for our business, reflected in the numbers.
“We are grateful to the government and members of parliament for supporting our reform program as it passed the senate last week, enabling us to get on with this critical transformation.
“We continue to make headway with reforming our letters business and we are investing in the infrastructure and digital capabilities vital to servicing the changing needs of our customers.
“We are confident we have the resources, infrastructure and support in place to manage the ongoing transition of our letters business as we become a more e-commerce-centric organization.”
September 29, 2015