Belgium's national postal operator Bpost saw a fall in revenues in the first quarter of this year, as the group said it is doing its "utmost" to reach an agreement to end ongoing strike action by its workers.
Bpost Group – 51% of which is owned by the Belgian State – saw its operating income fall by 5.3% in the first quarter of this year, to €993 million.
The group's adjusted EBIT (net earnings before interest and taxes) for the first quarter was €62.1 million. While this was down by €15.5 million compared to the same period last year, it represented a profit margin of 6.2%.
The group noted that losses were driven by its E-Logistics operations in a "challenging" North American market, where operating income fell by 16.6% to €282.5 million.
In Belgium, revenues in the first quarter were more steady, as operating income fell by just 0.1% to €565.8 million. The volume of mail delivered by the group in Belgium fell by 6.7%, while the volume of parcels increased by 2.9%.
Chris Peeters, CEO of Bpost Group, said that the Belgian results show "resilience", as he touched on strike action being undertaken by Bpost staff over newspaper distribution contracts.
"We recently achieved a milestone by reaching an agreement with the Flemish editors on the newspaper distribution. We are doing our utmost to do the same with the French-speaking editors soon," he said.
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In the latest financial accounts, the group said that it will have to gradually adapt its services to a continued reduction in newspaper and mail volumes, which cannot be completely offset by increasing parcel volumes.
Peeters also highlighted Bpost's recent bid to acquire French logistics company Staci for €1.3 billion, saying that it is an "important stepping stone" for the group.
"It brings our growth strategy to live and will enable us to refresh and expand our service offering to appeal to a whole new B2B segment and to create new market opportunities."
