The accounts of Poste Italiane they suffer the impact of the lockdown, but less than expected. In the second quarter the group accomplished profits of 239 million euros, a result 26,2% lower than in the same period last year, but higher than analysts' estimates, which on average stopped at 199 million. The Ebit on the other hand, it stood at 325 million, down 29,9% on the year. To protect profitability, it implemented appropriate measures between April and June: total operating costs down to 2 billion (-9,6%); payroll costs at €1,2 billion (-12%) thanks to lower FTEs and performance-related costs. Similar measures are being studied for the coming months. Lastly, the costs for goods and services increased one-off to 580 million (+5,2%) to deal with the emergency, explains Poste.
Also in the second quarter, the revenues they stood at 2,3 billion, down 13,1% year-on-year. In detail, Poste Italiane recorded a sharp drop in revenues from mail (-19,9%, to 701 million), from insurance (-16,2%, to 384 million) and financial (-9,2%, to 1,1 .3,5 billion). On the other hand, revenues from payments and mobile phones grew (+172%, to XNUMX million).
The lockdown caused shipments to soar, which recorded an increase of 54% compared to the previous quarter and 70,5% compared to the same period of 2019, reaching the record figure of nearly 19 million parcels delivered.
As for the prospects for the whole of 2020, according to the CEO, Matthew Del Fante, it is still too early to make "realistic forecasts on the economic and financial evolution of the group during 2020", even if "the long-term strategic trends, at the heart of our Deliver 2022 plan, have been confirmed".
According to Del Fante, we are witnessing “a an increasingly substantial recovery in revenues: we managed to maintain a solid balance sheet and, as expected, we paid the 2019 dividend. We also maintain our dividend strategy unchanged in view of the Deliver 2022 update expected in the fourth quarter”.
After the publication of these numbers, at the end of the morning Poste Italiane shares on the Stock Exchange gains 2,8%, to 7,822 euros (in February it had reached above 11 euros), while the Ftse Mib travels positive by about one percentage point.
