Omniva sees nearly 70 percent drop in profits in Q3 2021
Estonia's state-owned postal service and logistics company Eesti Post, which operates under the Omniva brand, posted a third quarter 2021 (Q3 2021) fall in profit of 69 percent on year, to €633,000. The company expects recuperation in Q4 2021 as Christmas season approaches, however.
Omniva/Eesti Post's revenue fell by 3.6 percent to €29.2 million over the same period, the company said.
A fall in international parcel deliveries in the wake of EU VAT law changes was particularly influential, Omniva CEO Mart Mägi said.
He said: "The change in VAT on parcels ordered from third countries, which entered into force in the EU on July 1, led to a fall of approximately 40 percent in international parcel volumes. Fortunately, e-commerce in Estonia and the Baltics has simultaneously grown."
The coronavirus situation also strongly affects parcel volumes during the Christmas period and at the end of the year, meaning Omniva started its preparations for the global and local shopping holidays in the third quarter, ahead of the busy period starting.
Automated parcel pick-up points also see increased use during pandemic conditions, the company says, as does the use of e-commerce and in particular domestic e-commerce.
Omniva Q3 2021 report quick facts:
- AS Eesti Post is an Estonian state-owned company. Group employs 2,300 people across the Baltics and had a revenue of €135.6 million in 2020.
- Operating income January-September 2021: €105.8 million (14.8 percent growth on year).
- Profit of €12.9 million earned in first three quarters, almost four times more than a year earlier, mainly due to increased revenues in Baltic parcel services.
- Omniva forecasts all-time high in parcel volumes for the fourth quarter of 2021.
- Revenues from Baltic parcel services rose by 25 percent year-on-year.
- Omniva operating revenues also continued to grow strongly on year in Latvia and Lithuania, by 58 percent and 49 percent respectively.
- International business as a whole grew by 5 percent on year.
- New sorting centers in Kaunas (Lithuania) and Tallinn operational for first time this year.
- Information business services provided by subsidiary Finbite OÜ. Information business revenues increased by 19 percent on year to Q3 2021, the strongest in its history in all markets (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania).
- Parcels sent to Estonia from outside the EU have had to be declared since July 1.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
