bpost has reported its Q2 2020 results with its Group operating income at €1,052.7m, marking a 12.5% increase Y-o-Y, mainly driven by strong Parcels BeNe and E-commerce logistics growth in both Europe and North America. Its EBIT was €71m, while adjusted EBIT, with a margin of 8.1%, was reported as €75.6m.
bpost Mail & Retail reported its EBIT to be €35.4m and adjusted EBIT decreased by 51.9% to €36m, and a margin of 7.7%. This was mainly driven by mail evolution, with an underlying mail volume decline estimated to be around 17%, and further amplified by COVID-19. The impact of the pandemic is estimated to be a €37m loss.
The Parcels & Logistics Europe & Asia reported its EBIT at €31.6m and its adjusted EBIT at € 32.4m, showing an increase of 67% or €13m, when operationally excluding Y-o-Y negative evolution of terminal dues settlements. EBIT growth was mainly driven by thriving e-commerce, resulting in Parcels BeNe volume growth of 78.4%. Additional investments in parcels sorting capacity enabled the company to structurally absorb higher peak volumes. PaLo Eurasia COVID-19 impact is estimated at €13.1m gains, delivering customer needs in challenging times.
Its North America location reported EBIT at €14.2m and adjusted EBIT at €17.6m, marking an increase of €18.1m, which is fully driven by Radial North America, recording high growth from existing customers and clients launched in 2019. E-commerce Logistics operating income was reported to have increased 53.5%; while PaLo North America performance was accelerated during the pandemic, with an estimated €16.5m gain.
The overall total COVID-19 impact on company EBIT is estimated at €9.5m loss for Q2 2020, the quarter was favourably impacted by targeted cost containment actions and cost phasing towards the second half of 2020
Based on the current situation and facts, the initial 2020 Group adjusted EBIT guidance range of €240-270m is reconfirmed, if no second or important local lockdown in 2020 or any event deriving from COVID-19 uncertainties materialises.
Jean-Paul Van Avermaet, CEO of bpost Group commented, “Visibility remains low, and the broad economic impact of COVID-19 will likely only be felt over the coming years. COVID-19 has triggered an acceleration of the digitizing world we are operating in. This is materializing through a significant increase in e-commerce penetration, as witnessed by our huge second quarter organic parcels volume growth above 78% and the steep acceleration in our E-commerce logistics revenues, both in the US at Radial as in Europe.
bpost Group said it will continue to develop its activities in e-commerce logistics in Europe through its two pillars, Radial Europe and Active Ants and by investing in sorting capacities. The Group also launched a platform for SMEs in mid-2020 helping to enable their entry into e-commerce.
Source: bpost
