By Olivier Cherfan
(Reuters) – PostNL shares jumped on Wednesday after the Dutch postal operator revealed a strategy for significant earnings growth by 2028 aimed at reversing years of missed targets though some analysts were uncertain whether the company could deliver.
The turnaround effort, to be supported by investment and restructuring, would capitalize on growing e-commerce demand.
Shares were up more than 9% in early trading.
The company aims for annual revenue exceeding 4 billion euros ($4.74 billion) and normalized pretax earnings of more than 175 million euros ($207.25 million) by 2028.
PostNL reported 2024 revenue and normalised EBIT at 3.25 billion euros and 62 million euros respectively.
“We are focused on disciplined execution, margin improvement, and capital efficiency,” Chief Financial Officer Linde Jansen said.
KBC analysts deemed the targets “ambitious” as they exceed its own estimates of 3.54 billion euros for annual revenue and 106 million euros for annual normalised EBIT by 2028.
Brokerage Degroof Petercam was pessimistic, saying “targets are not yet results and we have seen over the past few years that PostNL has been far off with delivering on its own (and consensus) expectations.”
The outlook anticipates that the mail segment will break even by 2028, although PostNL said an existing Universal Service Obligation (USO) proposal would result in the Mail segment remaining unprofitable until at least 2029.
It plans to invest around 150 million euros annually from 2026 to enhance tech and data capabilities, expand its out-of-home network, and split the parcels segment for more effective management and international growth.
The company said its Parcels segment would be divided into E-commerce and Platforms from January 1, 2026.
Investment in automation and digital capabilities would help the company build “a resilient foundation for long-term value creation,” Jansen added.
($1 = 0.8444 euros)
(Reporting by Olivier Cherfan in Gdansk; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Bernadette Baum)
