Segment information Q1 2021
Parcels: strong performance continued, normalised EBIT up €67m
E-commerce growth has picked up significantly on the back of the step-up in the transition from offline to online since
the outbreak of Covid-19 in mid-March 2020. The underlying strong growth trend in e-commerce is here to stay. Part
of this growth also related to specific, non-recurring, consumer spending as a result of the pandemic.
PostNL delivered 108 million parcels in Q1 2021 (Q1 2020: 67 million) of which approximately 26 million are assumed
to be non-recurring and related to Covid-19. At 61.6%, volume growth was extremely strong and visible across all
segments and products. Excluding the non-recurring impact, volume growth was around 23%.
Revenue grew to €662 million (Q1 2020: €414 million), mainly driven by volume development. Spring, both in Asia and
Europe, and Logistics saw rising revenues. Revenue growth was partially related to increasing internal revenue.
Currently, around 70% of revenue at Spring is e-commerce related. At Logistics, revenue rose across all business lines.
Normalised EBIT was up very substantially to €92 million (Q1 2020: €26 million), of which around €17 million is
assumed to be non-recurring and driven by volumes and additional costs. Another €7 million, from Spring and
Logistics, is also assumed to be non-recurring and related to Covid-19.
The increase in normalised EBIT was mainly driven by the impact of €176 million from volume growth, partly offset by
an expected negative price/mix effect of €4 million and volume-dependent costs that only increased by €106 million.
Organic costs rose by €3 million. Other costs were up €21 million as improved efficiency was more than offset by the
additional fees paid to retailers as an incentive to keep their stores open for parcel pickup. Finally, other results, which
include Spring and Logistics, were up €26 million with ongoing strong performance driven by revenue growth and
efficiency.
Mail in the Netherlands: positive volume/price/mix development
Addressed mail volumes increased by 5.6% in the quarter, mainly due to the impact from non-recurring items, for
example voting by mail and invites for the vaccination programme, which account for a positive impact of 4.5%.
Moreover, regular election mail contributed 3.8% and three additional working days had a positive impact of 3.4%.
The underlying trend of volume decline continued with a substitution rate at around 6%.
Revenue was up 18% to €466 million (Q1 2020: €395 million) on the back of the volume impact of €12 million.
Price/mix effects accounted for a rise of €32 million, supported by a shift towards more single mail and e-commerce
items, partly related to Covid-19. PostNL continued its moderate pricing policy. And finally, a small contribution from
other revenue was visible.
Performance was strong with normalised EBIT increasing to €59 million (Q1 2020: €5 million), of which around €18
million is assumed to be non-recurring and related to Covid-19.
The increase reflected the price/mix and total volume impact(a combined €44 million) partly offset by a €9 million
rise in volume-related costs. Organic costs rose by €4 million. Other costs improved by €22 million, mainly driven by
integration costs related to Sandd of €17 million in Q1 2020, cost savings and other, partly incidental, effects. Other
results were up by €1 million.
Acceleration of digital transformation
PostNL is accelerating its digital transformation to support business performance and create value for stakeholders.
We aim to strengthen our competitive position by further building on our platform and connecting customers,
consumers and solutions through simple and smart digital journeys.
PostNL expects to spend around €80 million in the acceleration of its digital transformation in the 2021-24 period,
approximately 50% of this in capex and 50% in operating costs. Due to its current strong financial position, PostNL has
decided to further speed up this process and now intends to spend around €25 million in 2021 (previous indication for
2021: around €15 million).
PostNL Other
Revenue at PostNL Other amounted to €48 million (Q1 2020: €26 million). Normalised EBIT declined to €(21) million
(Q1 2020: €(15) million), mainly as a result of higher pension expenses (an accounting impact only).