Pos Malaysia: Courier ops still growth driver

KUALA LUMPUR: National postal company Pos Malaysia Bhd said the courier, express and parcel (CEP) business segment would remain as its main growth driver for the financial year ending March 31, 2016 (FY16).
"We have seen the courier business being the main driver over the last year, growing by about 22% year-on-year," its covering group CEO Azlan Shahrim told reporters after its AGM here yesterday.
"For the first quarter, we grew about the same amount. We are expecting the same trend to continue, so the courier business is a main growth area for Pos Malaysia going forward, a key growth platform for us," he added.
For the first quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q1FY16) Pos Malaysia registered a net profit of RM22.74 million, down by 16% from RM27.11 million in the previous corresponding quarter.
Revenue increased by 6% to RM390.37 million from RM368.8 million previously, due mainly to higher volume from its transshipment business from the mail segment.
For FY15, its net profit fell 20% to RM127.05 million, from RM158.98 million a year ago, while revenue increased 4.7% to RM1.49 billion, compared with RM1.43 billion previously, driven mainly by its CEP business segment.
Pos Malaysia said the improved performance has managed to offset lower revenues from the mail business.
In a statement released yesterday, Pos Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil said the CEP business has emerged as an important engine of growth, catalysed by e-commerce growth of high broadband penetration, growing familiarity and increasing acceptance of online and mobile transactions.

"We aim to grow our CEP business segment further by maximising the efficiency of our CEP infrastructure, capturing additional market share and generating new revenue streams via the introduction of new products and services," he said.

For FY15, the company expanded its division's workforce to cater to current and future capacity demand, which accounted for a large part of an 8.7% increase in Pos Malaysia's operating expenses during the year.

Going forward, Mohd Khamil said, Pos Malaysia will leverage on the expanded handling capacity to capitalise on new growth opportunities, while adopting a more disciplined approach towards managing workforce size, to control the rise in operating expenses.
At the same time, he said, the company will continue to improve the efficiency of its existing postal infrastructure and utilise technological platforms to broaden its market offerings to meet changing needs in the digital age.

"In addition to our network of 68 standalone Pos Laju centres and with counters at our 702 post offices, we have also established our presence at 154 authorised agents throughout the country.
"For greater customer convenience, we will introduce parcel lockers to allow customers to self-collect and drop items at automated lockers at strategic locations," he said.
Mohd Khamil said the company has taken additional measures to increase public awareness of its pick-up services as well as its Go2U trucks in order to extend its leadership position in the domestic courier services market.
"At the same time, we leverage on technology to maximise the returns on the group's assets and operations," he added.

The company announced a first and final single-tier dividend of 13.1 sen per ordinary share for FY15, which brings a total dividend payout of RM71 million.