MaltaPost plc - Interim Results

On 12 May, MaltaPost plc published its financial statements for the six months ended 31 March 2011. The postal operator registered a 1.4% rise in turnover to €10.7 million as the drop in traditional mail volumes was outweighed by the continued growth in “packets” which are mainly generate from internet shopping. On the other hand, MaltaPost incurred higher costs including a 0.9% rise in wages to €5.1 million. Moreover, the postal operator incurred a 9.2% increase in ‘other operating costs’ to €3.7 million which include higher mail costs, utility bills and Information Systems support costs.

The postal operator reported a 24.2% increase in finance income to €185,000 resulting from a gain on the sale of certain investments within its portfolio. The Company reported a pre-tax profit of €1.7 million compared to the pre-tax profit of €1.9 million reported in the same period last year. Naturally, this decline in profitability also filtered through profit after tax which declined by 6.1% to €1.1 million.

In the half-year report, the directors reiterated that during the period under review the Company acquired a property to house a postal museum and made additional improvements to its branch network as well as to its head office. This resulted in a 41.7% rise in the value of ‘Property, plant and equipment’ in the balance sheet to €3.8 million. Shareholders funds’ also increased from €21 million as at 30 September 2010 to €22.5 million following a good take-up of the scrip-dividend paid with respect to the financial year ended 30 September 2010.

The Directors explained that the Company will continue to strengthen its non-postal activities through the provision of enhanced services whilst retaining its role as the country’s key postal operator. Moreover, MaltaPost will continue to pursue its branch upgrading programme and rebranding exercise. The Directors warned that although this will inevitably increase costs in the short-term, it provides the necessary platform to meet future challenges. Therefore, the Directors concluded that the lower performance registered during the first half of the year will be, as far as possible, gained in the coming months.

Similar to previous years, the Directors did not declare an interim dividend.

Download a copy of the MaltaPost plc 2011 Half-Year Report