Austrian Post wants to significantly expand its parcel stations. After the investment focus on the logistics centers in recent years, this will now be the focus. “We’ll soon be through with the investments in distribution centers,” says CEO Georg Pölzl. One goal is to offer a receiving station every 700 meters in urban areas. There are currently around 400 of these locations across Austria.
Parcel delivery as a climate sinner?
When it comes to shipping boxes, Austria is the only market in the world where this has prevailed, Pölzl explained on Tuesday in the “Business Journalists’ Club”. Pölzl rejects the fact that the packerl business is a climate sinner. Numerous studies would show that parcel delivery causes less CO2 than stationary retail – including the numerous returns.
When he took over the helm at Swiss Post in 2009, the parcel business accounted for just ten percent of sales; it is now just over 50 percent. “Our strategy worked,” says Pölzl.
On the positive side, the long-term boss also notes the strong expansion of logistics services, which, for example, were a prerequisite for handling the dispatch of the corona tests. And with the delivery and payment of the state’s climate bonuses, the fact that the Post continued to rely on banking after BAWAG’s exit has also proven itself. Swiss Post processed 450 million euros in six weeks alone, for which the boss once again praised the employees today.
Bank99 soon in profit?
In the next two years, Bank99 should report positively. In the meantime, also due to the integration of ING, the balance sheet total is 3.2 billion euros. Bank99 mainly got consumer and real estate loans here.
Tougher than expected by Pölzl is the march towards black numbers at the online portal shöpping. There is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of pricing and the rapid processing of orders in retail. Around 2,000 companies are now on the platform, an increase by a factor of 2, according to the Post boss. In any case, shopping is “extremely important” for domestic trade, after all, 80 percent of all orders still come from abroad.
Regarding the dividend of around 130 million euros last year from the partially state-owned, listed Post, Pölzl said that criticism of the amount was a thing of the past. In addition to the dividend, around half of which goes to the state, Swiss Post generates around 800 million euros in taxes every year – with annual sales of 2.5 billion euros. 80 percent of the proceeds would be generated in Austria, Pölzl beat the advertising drum.
The Turkish parcel subsidiary Aras Kargo accounts for around ten percent of the total turnover of the Post. However, business there has recently weakened due to the difficult economic situation in Turkey.
Will tariffs increase?
Pölzl was visibly relieved that the Post had already sealed the collective agreement (KV) in April. For the approximately 20,000 postal workers, there was an increase in gross salaries of four percent, with annual inflation lower than at present. Pölzl today praised the consensus with the workforce that the approach here was not as “shameless” as it was with the railway workers, he said. In addition, the full-time postal workers received a performance bonus of 800 euros net for 2021, and this year the employees are to share in the good result again. Post AG’s personnel costs are around one billion euros a year.
Will the high inflation of currently around eleven percent soon be clearly reflected in Swiss Post’s tariffs? “We are constantly adjusting our prices, nobody can believe that this has no consequences for us,” says Pölzl. He calculated that the average Austrian spends around 20 euros a year on postal services.
Source: Nachrichten
