PETALING JAYA: Pos Malaysia Bhd
will continue to focus on structural changes as it navigates the challenges ahead.
Group chief executive officer Charles Brewer said the postal company will continue to focus on its transformation, adjusting the business model and capacity and tackling its unprofitable segments.
“Our operations are characterised by high fixed costs, which makes it challenging to quickly adapt capacity to changing volume trends,” he said in the company’s latest annual report.
Brewer said Pos Malaysia will remain dedicated to the multi-pronged transformation plan of improving financial performance, transforming the core business and culture and optimising for margin-led initiatives.
He added that the company will also maintain strict cost controls and promote sustainability, guided by its environmental, social and governance roadmap.
“Despite the challenges, we remain cautiously optimistic that the group will deliver improved results in 2023,” he said.
For its financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY22), Pos Malaysia’s net loss narrowed to RM167.67mil from its net loss of RM335.73mil in the previous year.
Revenue, meanwhile, stood at RM1.96bil, compared with RM2.19bil a year earlier.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on its FY22 performance, Pos Malaysia said it continued to make solid progress with its transformation plan, even in a weakening macroeconomic environment.
“The group was able to maximise its yields and efficiently utilise its assets.”
The company noted that its business was cyclical and broadly followed economic trends.
“The year 2022 was a year marked by extraordinary challenges, including economic uncertainty and high inflation, resulting in reduced consumer spending.
“That, along with accelerated insourcing of parcels from larger platform sellers, the use of ‘masking’ and heightened competitor activity, have all resulted in a very challenging environment,” it said.
Despite the loss recorded in FY22, chairman Syed Faisal Albar said in the group’s annual report that Pos Malaysia returned to profitability in the second quarter of 2022 after 15 consecutive quarters of losses.
“However, I understand that one sunny day does not make a summer.
“While Pos Malaysia has come a long way, we are also reminded that much needs to be done for a full financial performance turnaround.”
As Malaysia’s sole licensee for universal postal services, Syed Faisal said the company has established a vast network of distribution touchpoints to enable it to deliver to more than 11 million addresses.
“As such, we leverage this unique selling point to provide sustainable long-term value and complementary services in the future.”
He added that Pos Malaysia’s modernised infrastructure and adoption of state-of-the-art technology have improved efficiencies and delivery speed.
“Without compromising on the quality of services, we have streamlined processes and invested in technology to upgrade productivity while reducing operational costs.”
