An Post reports €6.5m profit for 2004
28/04/2005 - 15:23:37An Post has reported an after-tax profit of €6.5m for 2004.
The result is a turnaround of €45m since last year and ends three successive years of escalating losses which threatened the future of the company.
The annual report and accounts, published today, reveals an operating profit of €1.8m. Exceptional income of €5.3m from property disposals and other items produced an outturn which signals the success of crisis control measures.
Turnover in the year at €750.2m was up by €41m – an increase of 5.8% on 2003. Staff and postmasters’ costs at €502.4m were marginally up on the previous year, while other costs decreased.
However, despite the success of strict cost control measures, An Post said its cost base remains too high and substantial cuts are essential through headcount reductions, efficiencies, work practice changes and the implementation of the automation agreement.
An industrial relations environment which is resistant to change, regardless of the business and financial circumstances of the Company, has been excessively demanding of the focus and energies of senior management, a report said today.
Ms Margaret McGinley, chairperson of the Board of An Post, described the result for the year as “having significantly exceeded expectations.
“The Company’s finances have been stabilised and the immediate liquidity problems, which emerged in 2003, have been overcome. It is now clear that implementation of the Recovery Plan can provide An Post with a future in which modest growth and profitability can be secured,” she added.
Chief executive Donal Curtin said that damaging service disruption at local and national level and the continuing lack of real progress on change continued to be a source of deep concern.
“Our aim now must be to build on the financial stabilisation achieved in 2004 by concentrating on customer orientation and workplace flexibility which will allow us to survive in the new competitive order that is rapidly approaching.”
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