Strong courier services demand, higher postal tariffs boost Pos Malaysia earnings.

KUALA LUMPUR: Pos Malaysia Bhd revenue grew 25 per cent to RM606.1 million in the second quarter (Q2) ended June 2020 from RM573.0 million in the same quarter last year.

The national postal services provider said the higher revenue was driven by the strong demand for courier services and higher postal tariffs.

The group’s net loss for the Q2 decreased substantially by 61 per cent compared to the first quarter (Q1) 2020 at RM19.0 million.

Courier business revenue increased 20 per cent in Q2 compared to last year with the increase in demand from e-commerce and online marketplaces.

“The group’s transformation initiatives that were deployed over the past 18 months, such as automation and crowd-sourcing, allowed the group to handle on average 487,000 parcels per day, peaking at 800,000 during the period,” it said.

Meanwhile, Pos Malaysia’s mail business revenue grew by 25 per cent in Q2 as a result of the new postal tariffs implemented in February 2020, despite a decline in mail volume in the month of April due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Its international business’ revenue also grew by 14 per cent in Q2 as a result of a pricing review for transhipment services and acquisition of new clients.

Whereas the group’s retail business saw significant improvement in the month of May and June after a brief decline in April, as footfall into post offices improved with the easing of movement restrictions.

Pos Malaysia group chief executive officer Syed Md Najib said the group is on a firm recovery path as it sets out to deliver on its transformation plan towards achieving sustained profitability.

Syed said the group is seeing higher than usual courier volume even after the easing of movement restrictions and we expect this trend to continue throughout the rest of the year.

“As such, our continued investments in digitalisation, automation and crowd-sourcing of delivery riders will be critical to grow our business, processing capacity and speed, in order to meet customer expectations in this digitally driven economy.

“The group’s transformation journey is showing strong progress and has enabled the business to weather the storm and cater for the change in consumer behaviour as a result of the unprecedented changes in the business landscape due to Covid-19,” he added.

Source: NST