Greetings card mail props up Post profits

GUERNSEY POST handled 41m. items of mail in the last financial year. However, its profitability halved compared to the year before.

Profits at Guernsey Post have fallen and are being propped up by revenue from sending personalised greeting cards and gifts to the UK. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 21495010)

The company made an operating profit of £1.27m. for the financial year ending 31 March, compared with £2.3m. for the previous period.

Outgoing chairman Andrew Duquemin said it was the States-owned utility’s second-best operating profit performance in more than a decade.

‘Overall, the company’s performance for the year has been excellent, considering the effect that digital substitution is continuing to have on our traditional letter volumes and the associated revenue and profitability.

‘By way of illustration, local mail volumes alone experienced a decline of just over 11% in the past year.

‘This rapid rate of decline underscores the critical importance of the reforms that we have introduced to the letters and parcels business in recent years.

‘The board remains committed to mitigating, as far as possible, the decline in core volumes by continuing to strive for greater efficiencies and exploiting commercial opportunities, such as the continued growth of parcel delivery.’

The company has had to change its strategy to tackle the challenges facing it in recent years.

‘Since 2012, which coincided with the loss of low value consignment relief, a key aspect of the company’s strategy has been to focus on the retention and growth of the online personalised greeting card and gift sector,’ said Mr Duquemin.

‘Each year since, the company has underpinned the growth of the industry with competitive pricing, innovative postal products and exceeding expectations on quality of service.

‘In 2018, it is likely that 95% of personalised greeting cards destined for the UK will be produced and posted from Guernsey, a statistic which neatly illustrates the success of our strategy.

‘The total number of mail items handled during the year was approximately 41m.

‘Total inward mail delivered was down 7% on prior year and was again impacted by the ongoing decline seen in inward UK letters and packets.

‘Local mail delivered also experienced a decline of 11% in the year.

‘Total outward mail was up 3% on prior year, primarily as a result of an increase in outward bulk volumes during the period.’