Bpost shares gained more than 10% at the opening of trading on Monday. The rebound followed an announcement on Friday evening in which the postal company revealed the outcome of an internal investigation into public contracts for which it had overcharged.
The government overpaid for three services provided by the postal company: the processing of national and international road fines (CBF); the management of 679 accounts (among them more than 200 public institutions managed by Bpost for the benefit of the State); and the production, delivery and deregistration of number plates.
Bpost announced on Friday that it estimated costs of €75 million to reimburse the various State departments at the end of negotiations.
In addition, the company expects a negative impact on EBIT (i.e. earnings before interest and tax) of €10 million. However, this figure is lower than the estimate made in April when the group was expecting an impact of between €25 and €50 million.
