The New Zealand Post Group has announced a $35.6 million loss after tax for the financial year to the end of June.
The company has attributed most of the plunge in profit to the February earthquake in Canterbury.
“While the result is very disappointing, the Group is confident of a return to a positive [net profit after tax] in the coming financial year,” says chief executive Brian Roche.
The company’s expenditure also rose $130 million while revenue only gained $55 million.
Kiwibank has also been impacted by the quake, with the bank’s bad debt provisioning jumping to $67 million – though the poor economic conditions have also contributed to this.
“There is a need for significant change in the way we operate parts of our business if we are to be sustainable. We have made substantial progress in implementing some of those changes and will continue the process in the coming year,” says Mr Roche.
In recent years NZ Post has investigated several changes to its operations, including ending its Saturday delivery service or only delivering post every second day, in an effort to cut costs.
“A plan of action to create a viable, sustainable postal network for the future in the face of ongoing and inevitable declines in mail volumes will be put to the Board this financial year,” he says.
NZ Post is looking to continue to grow Kiwibank, and also move to a digital market.
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