Competitor Watch
Irish state-owned postal operator An Post has confirmed plans to invest more than €100m in new infrastructure due to the surge in parcel deliveries driven by the explosion in online shopping during the pandemic.
Investment will cover the building of a parcels super-hub with capacity to handle growing parcel volumes through to 2030 or 2040 and an all-electric fleet.
In addition, the company plans to spend tens of millions of euros on upgrading its IT systems and on enhancing its retail financial services offering as part of a new group strategy that will be unveiled in the coming months.
Although final year accounts have yet to be completed, early indications are that An Post’s mail volumes will have declined by around 10 per cent overall in 2020, while parcel volumes more than doubled. In December alone, An Post delivered 14m parcels, double the level of December 2019, with half of those parcels originating from domestic retailers and 35 per cent from the UK.
The company expects revenue and profit for last year to be on a par with 2019 and forecasts a very rapid recovery after lockdowns have ended towards the second half of 2021.
