Feb 23 (Reuters) - Dutch postal operator PostNL on Monday forecast 2026 operating earnings broadly in line with last year's consensus-beating number, which was supported by cost savings and business
PostNL Projects Steady 2026 Earnings with Future Growth Surge
By Olivier Cherfan
Feb 23 (Reuters) - PostNL expects earnings to remain broadly stable in 2026, the Dutch postal operator said on Monday, as it counts on cost cuts and more relaxed letter delivery rules to meet its higher growth targets by 2028.
PostNL's Financial Forecast for 2026
It forecast a normalised operating profit, or earnings before interest and taxes, of 40 million to 70 million euros ($47 million to $83 million) for 2026, compared with a consensus-beating 53 million euros last year. This could translate into free cash outflow of up to 30 million euros, or breakeven at best, it said.
Even at the high point of the EBIT guidance, the group would need to more than double its earnings over the next two years to meet its reiterated medium-term target of 175 million euros by 2028.
To make this happen, PostNL will keep cutting costs through 2026, with further savings expected once the mail business's delivery obligation is extended from one day to two, CEO Pim Berendsen told Reuters.
Regulatory Changes and Their Impact
The Dutch cabinet in December approved a plan to relax the universal mail service requirement, which will give PostNL two days to deliver letters from July 1, to be extended to three days a year later.
These fundamental changes to the model will help accelerate earnings from next year, fuelling growth to meet the mid-term goal, Berendsen said.
"We'll be able to do that without forced redundancies, but through natural attrition because we've already been preparing for this change for quite a while," he said.
Strategies in Parcel Delivery Business
In the parcel delivery business, which competes with the likes of DHL and UPS, cost per parcel will be cut by adjusting sorting and delivery, he added.
PostNL proposed an annual dividend of 4 euro cents, after skipping the interim payout due to uncertainty over the universal service requirement.
Its shares were up less than 1% at 0950 GMT, with Degroof Petercam analysts saying the EBIT guidance was more cautious than they had expected, even though the operating performance was strong.
($1 = 0.8461 euros)
(Reporting by Olivier Cherfan in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi)
