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The company, which delivers parcels and letters across Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, reported normalised earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) of 23 million euros($26.57 million) in its third quarter, compared with 36 million euros a year earlier.
Analysts had expected on average a normalised EBIT of 24 million euros.
“In the third quarter of the year, the changes in VAT for small goods outside the EU and other regulation in China had a stronger temporary negative impact on international volumes than anticipated, and put pressure on the performance of both Parcels and Mail in the Netherlands,” Chief Executive Herna Verhagen said in a statement.
Postal operators have experienced a surge in parcel volumes during the pandemic as coronavirus lockdowns pushed shoppers to order online.
PostNL’s overall parcel volume growth of 1.6% was slower in the quarter due to reopening of non-essential stores and borders as well as some disruptions in global supply chains, the company said.
Growth in e-commerce picked up later in the quarter and is expected to continue, the company said, “with some uncertainty related to Covid-19 and the changes in VAT regulation.”
Its smaller Dutch mail business missed analysts’ revenue estimates of 358 million euros.
PostNL confirmed its guidance for 280-310 million euros in normalised EBIT for 2021, which it had raised in August as it benefited from a sustained boom in e-commerce under extended coronavirus lockdowns.
($1 = 0.8655 euros)
