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Swiss Post: First successful year with the new strategy
Swiss Post has recovered faster than expected from the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, it generated Group profit of 457 million francs, up 279 million francs year-on-year.
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At the beginning of 2021, in the middle of the difficulties created by the pandemic, Swiss Post embarked on a new four-year strategy period. Swiss Post has already succeeded in reaching the first milestones in the new strategy: it has made major organizational changes, in particular the merger of the letter and parcel units. Swiss Post has also stabilized its network of branches at around 800 and opened up this network to the first third-party providers. And it has continued developing and strengthening its digital services.
Parcel volumes were enormous and the workload was heavy, whether at Swiss Post branches, at the letter and above all parcel centers, or working behind the wheel of a Postbus: 2021 was another challenging year for Swiss Post.
But despite the coronavirus pandemic and its impact, Swiss Post achieved a good annual result.
- Operating income stands at 6,877 million francs, exceeding the previous year’s total by 329 million francs.
- At 515 million francs, operating profit (EBIT) is up 257 million francs on the previous year’s figure.
- Group profit for 2021 totals 457 million francs, up 279 million francs over 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
“Reassurance that we are on the right track”
Swiss Post CEO Roberto Cirillo has good reason to be satisfied with the annual result for 2021, the first figures under the new Group strategy: “I’m very happy with the first year of the ‘Swiss Post of tomorrow’ strategy. We have successfully consolidated our logistics for parcels and letters, acquired and expanded important digital skills for SMEs, public authorities and the healthcare sector, sold off parts of the company that were less than an ideal fit, and kept our promise to stabilize the number of our branches at around 800 − and, to round it all off, we were named the world’s best postal service for the fifth time. The good financial result offers additional reassurance that we are on the right track.” Swiss Post’s financial result in 2021 was significantly better than might have been anticipated at the beginning of the year. “This is because Swiss Post has recovered from the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic faster than expected.” This year, Swiss Post will again pay a dividend of 50 million francs to its owner, the Swiss Confederation.
“The smart Swiss model”
Christian Levrat, the new Chairman of the Swiss Post Board of Directors, is also pleased that, in this first year of the new strategy period, Swiss Post proved able to improve its financial result significantly and is therefore now on more solid ground than before the pandemic. “Swiss Post is the foundation for the public service of the future,” he says with emphasis. “The smart Swiss model of a high-quality, customer-focused, modern and publicly owned infrastructure that is still self-financed must not be compromised by extreme changes. On the contrary, the prudent course is to continue developing it.” Levrat, Chairman of the Swiss Post Board of Directors since December 2021, stresses: “The Swiss economy needs outstanding infrastructure if it is to continue on its path of global success. Swiss Post will facilitate this by becoming more digital and by continuing to improve integration into international online retail. The strategy we are pursuing is the right way to achieve this. And for me, it was a significant reason why I was confident in accepting the role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.”
