Belgian postal service bpost has recorded a 12.5% year-on-year growth in group operating income for Q2 2020. Strong e-commerce growth canceled out losses due to continued mail volume decline and the impact of measures brought in due to Covid-19.
Commenting on the figures, bpost CEO and chairman Jean-Paul Van Avermaet observed, “We are still evolving in a very uncertain world. However, thanks to the considerable efforts of all our employees, the first half of the year allows us to reconfirm our initial 2020 group EBIT guidance. Visibility remains low, and the broad economic impact of Covid-19 will likely only be felt over the coming years.
“Covid-19 has triggered an acceleration of the digitizing world we are operating in. This is materializing through a significant increase in e-commerce penetration, as witnessed by our huge second quarter organic parcels volume growth above 78% and the steep acceleration in our e-commerce logistics revenues, both in the USA at Radial as in Europe. At the same time, these results also confirm that the diversification strategy that bpost Group has put in place over the last years is a sound one for a viable future.”
bpost expressed an intention to remain an efficient mail operator in the domestic market, while growing in the areas of e-commerce logistics in Eurasia and North America, and capturing the strong development of last-mile parcels delivery in Belgium and the Netherlands through continued investment in these areas.