Bpost loses fifth market value

- The Belgian postal company Bpost, which unsuccessfully attacked PostNL, loses a fifth of its entire market value on Wednesday. According to investors, the outlook for postal services is poor, partly due to the purchase of Radial.

PostNL was punished on the stock exchange at the beginning of March because of its weak outlook. In the Netherlands PostNL CEO Herna Verhagen called on the government to say goodbye to the liberalization, only consolidation would result in a healthy postal market. There would be too many mail deliverers active on the market.

For example, mergers and acquisitions only guarantee a five-day delivery of mail, according to Verhagen.

Bpost's turnover increased by 38.3% in the last quarter thanks to the packages and the peak in the sale of e-commerce at the end of the year. The quarterly turnover amounted to € 955 million, partly due to the consolidation of the American Radial purchased in November. Turnover in the year went to € 3.023 billion, an increase of 25%. Radial contributed € 203 million.

The decline in domestic mail (-5.8%) was only partially offset by price increases. Bpost reported that the ban on raising the stamp prices in 2017 cost the company € 20 million.