Australia Post announces reduced profit despite growth in parcels

Australia Post has announced a profit before tax of $41 million for 2018/19, down 67 per cent year-on-year. As flagged when Australia Post released its HY19 results, falling letter volumes dragged the profit down.Domestic parcels grew 9.2 per cent to $3,181 million, while letter revenues declined almost 9 per cent to $2,216 million. The letters business returned a loss of $192 million.The growth in delivery points and continuing fall in letter volumes present a challenge to Australia Post. The proposed price increase for the basic domestic rate postage stamp, if approved, will help Australia Post recover some of its costs for the letters service. The letters service should be self-funding, and not dependent on funding from other parts of the business that are subject to competition.