For FY22, group chief executive officer Charles Brewer foresees a stronger performance with the end of domestic movement restrictions and reopening of the country’s borders.
PETALING JAYA: Pos Malaysia Bhd anticipates a rosier outlook for its retail, international, logistics and aviation businesses driven by a rebound in consumer demand given the reopening of international borders.
The group’s retail and international business had faced a decline in revenue for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY21).
For FY22, group chief executive officer Charles Brewer foresees a stronger performance with the end of domestic movement restrictions and reopening of the country’s borders.
“Revenue at our retail business declined by 7.7% due to a sharp drop in footfall and shorter operating hours during the movement control order (MCO).
“Likewise, the international business experienced a 33% drop in revenue as the pandemic continued to disrupt our international postal network, which impacted mail delivery and cross-border shipments,” he said in the company’s 2021 annual report.
The eCommerce sector is also poised to grow, albeit at a slower rate as the world reopens, added Brewer.
However, he said that aggressive competition in the courier industry is set to continue, noting that the mail delivery business is projected to see continued declines.
Notably, the group’s courier business saw a decline of 21% in volume and 9.4% in revenue to RM716.7mil in FY21 due to intensified competition, insourcing of delivery by major eCommerce players and consumers switching back to bricks-and-mortar shopping after the end of the MCO in August.
However, Pos Malaysia is confident that the measures put in place in its courier business which includes industry-leading delivery times and the rationalisation of product offerings would position it for exciting growth going forward.
Brewer said the key priority is to diversity its customer base moving forward.
“Pos Malaysia seeks to capitalise on the growing eCommerce parcel sector, increase parcel yields and focus on the long-tail business- to-customer, direct-to-customer and business-to-business sectors,” he added.
Last year, Pos Malaysia launched its three-year information and communications technology transformation programme, which has “begun to deliver visible outcomes in terms of cost efficiencies and improved customer satisfaction”.
As part of this, the group targets to move 80% of its services to more efficient cloud-based platforms by the end of 2022.