Pos Malaysia delivers 40% higher profit

MELAKA, 16 Ogos -- Kakitangan Pos Malaysia Mohd Hirin Abullah (kanan) menyerahkan surat bersama Jalur Gemilang kepada Lim Gek Hing (kiri) program Penyerahan Bendera Kepada Pelanggan Pos dan Ziarah sempena Bulan Kemerdekaan hari ini. --fotoBERNAMA (2016) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA

KUALA LUMPUR: Pos Malaysia Bhd’s net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2016, rose 40.1% to RM31.84mil from a year earlier, due to higher profits generated from courier segment.

The postal service provider, which will soon become a DRB-Hicom subsidiary, told Bursa Malaysia that the courier business growth was driven by demand in e-commerce and online business.

This segment recorded a pre-tax profit of RM23.66mil, while the traditional postal services business sank into a loss of RM2.43mil and the international segment (direct entry and transhipment) made RM1.14mil in profit.

Pos Malaysia’s revenue grew by 6.5% year-on-year to RM415.87mil, of which half was contributed by the loss-making postal services division.

On its prospects, Pos Malaysia said its longer term prospects remained closely tied to the growth in the fulfilment and delivery of merchandise arising from the growth of e-commerce.

“Investments by global e-commerce giants into the South-East Asian region’s e-commerce players (for example, the acquisition of Lazada by Alibaba) support the growth and development of the e-commerce industry in the region,” the company said.

“Pos Malaysia has been focusing on enhancing its e-commerce fulfilment and logistics infrastructure and capabilities to take advantage of the opportunities arising from such investments. Overall, Pos Malaysia’s management is cautiously optimistic that the group’s longer term prospects are broadly positive.”